LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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SPECIAL SERMONS, 



AND ANALYSES OF 



Ten of Our Lord's Parables. 



BY THE REV. S. NOLAND, 
Of the Kentucky Conference, l\i. E. Church, South. 




JAN 13J 






Nashville, Tenn. : 
Southern Methodist Publishing House. 

1885. 



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Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 188+, 

By the Book Agents of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 

in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



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DEDICATORY. 



With Prayers for Their Welfare, 

THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED TO 

"The Traveling, Supernumerary, Superannuated, 

and Worn-out Preachers, their Wives, 

Widows, and Children," 

OF THE 

Kentucky Conference of the M. E. Church, South, 

BY THE AUTHOR. 



PREFACE. 

Our book contains a sermon by the author in memory 
of Bishop H. H. Kavanaugh ; one on " Good Works ; n one 
on "The Discoveries of Sin; " and one on "The Kesurrec- 
tion of Christ." These four sermons are intermingled with 
analyses of ten of our Lord's parables, viz.: "The Sower," 
"The Tares," "The Barren Fig-tree," "The Prodigal and 
the Self-righteous Son," "The Great Supper," "The Good 
Samaritan," "The Pharisee and Publican," "The Unjust 
Judge," "The Wise and Foolish Virgins," and "The Eich 
Man and Lazarus." 

Our Lord declared that he spake in parables to his fol- 
lowers that they might know the mystery of the kingdom 
of God. He made this statement early in his ministry, 
and for nearly three years he abounded in this manner of 
instruction. It is said by the evangelist that without a 
parable he did not speak to the multitude. No doubt this 
kind of teaching coming from our Saviour conveys truth to 
the mind and heart with unusual distinctness and power. 
The composition of all the parables is exceedingly plain, 
and without apparent effort at ornament ; but the impres- 
sion produced by them has never been equaled by unin- 
spired human writings. An able advocate once said to an 
able divine that he could make as good a parable as those 
attributed to Jesus. The divine gave him two weeks to 
produce the parable. At the end of the time the advocate 
reported that he had succeeded in words and style, but had 
wholly failed to put the soul into it that he found in the 
parables of Jesus. He started out to discredit the parables 

(5) 



6 Preface. 

of our Lord, but was convinced of their inspiration. Many- 
parables have been written with great care by many men, 
but they are all destitute of spiritual life. Jesus never 
wrote a parable, but spoke them to the people in common 
discourse. 

The Church is favored with many excellent productions 
on the parables. Our design is plain, and we ask the help 
and blessing of God to carry it to completion. We shall 
seek to make analyses of ten of the leading parables of 
our Lord. At first we thought of attempting to show what 
was contained on each subject in the parables considered 
. together, but on reflection we found that it would produce 
such a mutilation or severance of them as would greatly 
mar their beauty and symmetry, and was of doubtful pro- 
priety. So on mature consideration we have determined 
to attempt an analysis of each parable separately, showing 
the figures employed as to their meaning and design, the 
chief doctrine presented and the duties prescribed and sins 
prohibited. Each parable has some history, event, or oc- 
cupation which constitutes the figure on which it rests. It 
contains one or more doctrines laid down to the world au- 
thoritatively by our Lord. And each one has duties for 
our observance plainly implied or expressed. We write for 
the common people, and avoid scholastic terms and doubt- 
ful speculations. 

Were there no other scriptures than the parables, they 
would avouch their inspiration from heaven beyond contro- 
versy, as they reveal our inward or spiritual nature with 
the truthful certainty of their being a revelation from God. 
In them the contrast is strongly drawn between religion and 
irreligion, virtue and vice, and indeed all the good and evil 
qualities found in the Church and among men. We have 
treated eacli parable in its general specification of these 
qualities as they are taught therein, believing that our 



Preface. 7 

readers will sooner perceive and appreciate the difference 
between right and wrong conduct shown in this obvious and 
practical way than in any other mode of presentation. 

Webster defines a parable to be " a fable or allegorical 
relation or representation of something real in life or nat- 
ure from which a moral is drawn for instruction." Our 
Watson says a parable is " an allegorical instruction, 
founded on something real or apparent in nature or his- 
tory, from which a moral is drawn by comparing it with 
some other thing in which the people are more immediately 
concerned." Perhaps the latter definition is more full and 
satisfactory. It certainly describes well our Lord's para- 
bles. Kot one of them is founded on any pursuit or history 
that was unknown or foreign to the people who first heard 
his parables, or that was of local or temporary use; and now 
in the nineteenth century after their delivery as we read 
them we find around us and in every land the same call- 
ings and usages of society to which they refer. The natural 
objects on which the parables rest in the representation are 
at our door, and the spiritual application is therefore easy, 
and may be immediately made. 

We enter gardens, fields, houses, cities, country-places, 
private and public homes, amid flowers, fruits, and every 
variety of innocent enjoyment, so that from the seen we 
may approach the unseen and believe and live. Our faith 
will be strengthened and our hand for duty quickened and 
encouraged until it will be our meat and drink to do the 
will of God. Let us sit down to a repast from our Lord's 
parables, following him as our leader, and fearing no evil. 
. We intend all the profits of this book to go to the Preach- 
ers' Aid Society of the Kentucky Conference, Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South. We regard the most deserving 
beneficiaries of the Church to-day to be those whom our 
Discipline designates as "the traveling, supernumerary, 



8 Preface. 

superannuated, and worn-out preachers, their wives, wid- 
ows, and children." Every Conference has them, and God 
regards them with a tender love. So far as pay is concerned, 
it was this object alone that made us bold enough to write. 
AVill not every preacher appreciate the motive and help in 
the sale of the book? S. Noland. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Bishop H. H. Kavanatjgh 13 

The Sower 27 

The Tares 57 

The Barren Fig-tree 75 

The Discoveries of Six 93 

The Prodigal and the Self-righteous Son 102 

The Great Supper 125 

The Good Samaritan 143 

Good Works 158 

The Pharisee and Publican 171 

The Unjust Judge 191 

The Wise and Foolish Virgins 205 

The Rich Man and Lazarus 216 

The Resurrection of Christ 231 

W 



SERMONS-PARABLES. 



BISHOP H. H. KAVANAUGM7 



"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, 
worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
glory." 2 Cor. iv. 17. 

MANY churches and many hearts are opening 
for memorial services in honor of our be- 
loved and lately deceased Bishop H. H. Kava- 
naugli. We join to-day in this sad duty with our 
Church and our country, but our circumstances and 
our feelings must be different to some extent from 
all others. If any aim to make a demonstration be- 
cause he was a good and a great man, and because 
the Church had elevated him for many years to 
its most responsible position, we come only to offer 
hearts of love and minds full of tender memories. 
He had lived here so long — and in all the years had 
acted more as the ordinary than as the chief pastor, 
visiting all the houses and leaving in them his rich- 
est Christian benedictions — that we can do no more 
than meet as a large family of kindred to consider 

*A memorial sermon preached by Rev. S. Noland at 
Versailles, Ky., April 6, 1884, by request of the M. E. 
Church, South, at that place. 

(13) 



14 Bishop H. H. Kavanaugh. 

our loss and Ms gain by the stroke of death which 
has removed him from earth to heaven. 

Our text is selected this morning because of its 
own appropriateness, and because our beloved Bish- 
op, in the last attempt that he made to preach, had 
chosen the same words. Only a few weeks before 
his decease, he appeared in a pulpit at Ocean Springs 
anxious oncB more to proclaim salvation through 
" the Lamb of God w T hich taketh away the sin of the 
world," and while unwell announced this text, and 
after repeating it the third time to the audience 
was compelled to admit his physical inability to 
proceed. Physicians and friends attended him, and 
his voice was no more to be heard in earthly pul- 
pits. For more than sixty years, and probably fif- 
teen thousand times, it had given no uncertain 
sound in the battle against sin ; but now the Master 
called him away from the conflict. We have 
thought it would be honoring him to-day to use the 
same w T ords before the people w T hom he so long and 
so dearly loved. We hoped that it w r ould show to 
some extent that while the ablest ministers fall at 
their post unable to preach again, the Bible stands 
open and full of the same precious and com- 
forting texts in all the centuries for other men to 
use in the Church of God. And it seemed to us 
that the text commended itself as being entirely ap- 
propriate to this occasion, as it presents the view T 
that was often in his mind and heart — earthly af- 



Bishop H. H. Kavaxaugh. 15 

flietions, all light and momentary, ushering the soul 
at death into "a far more exceeding and eternal 
weight of glory" in the heavenly state. 

In our mind this text in one of its leading feat- 
ures resembles one that we employed on another 
occasion in this town. Twenty and a half years 
ago, in a house then belonging to Bishop Kava- 
naugh, in the presence of many people filling the 
house and the adjoining grounds, Ave preached the 
sermon before the burial of one of the Lord's saints, 
dear Sister Kavanaugh, from the words, " Precious in 
the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." We 
name a feature in the texts employed of striking simi- 
larity and of great importan ce. It was death that was 
precious in the sight of the Lord, because it was the 
death of a saint. Xow we know that neither the 
learning nor the philosophy of this world has ever 
reached that state of perfection where they found 
any thing precious in death. All their study is to 
avoid it or to bear up under the trial. But the re- 
ligion of our Heavenly Father lifts us on a higher 
plane, and shows us a preciousness in this most 
dreaded enemy. In our text to-day we ascend the 
same higher plane, which learning and philosophy 
never reached, and we find that affliction is the 
stepping-stone from earth to heavenly glory. The 
world finds only unmixed evil in affliction. It is 
full of bodily pain, and agony of mind, and loss of 
vital powers, and apprehension of changes worse 



1 6 Bishop H. H. Kavanaugh. 

and worse, until all seems lost to the eye that looks 
only to mother earth. But in this disorder and 
distress God opens the eye of faith to see beyond 
its throes " a far more exceeding and eternal weight 
of glory." 

May we honor the memory of the dear saint 
whom we have named with the acknowledgment of 
a personal obligation? On our first visit to this 
church as its appointed pastor, her quick eye de- 
tected in us a delicate hesitancy in entering upon 
our pastoral W'Ork as a stranger, visiting houses 
where we were unknown and introducing ourself as 
the preacher in charge. With Christian kindness and 
thoughtfulness, she offered her services to walk with 
us to all the Methodist families in town and give us 
introduction and indorsement. She removed from 
us a heavy load, and to-day she has our public ac- 
knowledgment of her labor of love. Little did we 
think on the day that she introduced us to the Meth- 
odists in Versailles that we should so soon be called 
to lay her in "the silent city of the dead," and 
twenty and one-half years afterward to address this 
large and sympathizing audience on the demise of 
her honored husband. Surely we may say : 

God moves in a mysterious way 

His wonders to perform ; 
He plants his footsteps on the sea 

And rides upon the storm. 

We do not propose a statistical exhibit on this oc- 



Bishop H. H. Kavaxaugh. 17 

casion. The character, life, and example of our 
Bishop are of more value to us than any number of 
dates. We have a good and a great life to present, 
and the feature most unusual among men is that his 
goodness exceeds his greatness. Of course we are 
understood as meaning goodness through grace. 
In reading biography and individual history of em- 
inent men we have often been pained to find the 
great events of the life overshadowed by common 
and unimportant dates. A few days ago the life 
of Scotland's Dr. Chalmers fell into our hands, and 
the author was so engrossed with the great deeds 
which he had performed that he neither told the 
time of his birth or death. It seemed to us in ex- 
quisite taste, and an example so rare that we had 
seen none like it among uninspired men. Four 
inspired historians have written the life of Jesus 
Christ and have given neither the date of his birth, 
miracles, or death. If these had been given, hero- 
worship would have followed in all the world and 
throughout the ages. To-day we seek to remember 
our friend in the chief qualities of his character and 
life. 

We begin with some thoughts for the young peo- 
ple of this audience. When a youth, and before he 
was converted, Bishop Kavanaugh decided to have 
a positive character, and began the formation of the 
same. God gives us in the morning of life the 
power, not the right, to choose between right and 
2 



18 Bishop H. H. Kavanaugh. 

wrong. Mark the distinction between power and 
right as here expressed. No one can be a free 
agent without the power to choose right or wrong. 
God made us free agents and placed us here on trial 
and in a trial state, and the power to do wrong fol- 
lowed this condition. We boast of our liberty of 
choice, but it is the most fearful responsibility this 
side of heaven. The right to do wrong could never 
be granted by a holy God demanding holiness. 
Hence, as soon as the power to do wrong was laid 
at the door of our hearts, commands to do right 
w T ere issued from heaven with all possible motives 
annexed to insure obedience. 

Some young people decide early in life to have a 
positive character, either to do right or wrong as 
they may prefer. Perhaps the majority scarcely 
decide either way, but drift with the chances, and 
frequently, almost unconsciously to themselves, are 
found in the way with sinners. One of the most 
encouraging thoughts that can enter a parent's 
heart is to see a child from principle take the right 
side in the issues of life. This may be done before 
conversion from a perception that the right is al- 
ways preferable to the wrong, and from a certain 
nobility of character leading in that way. When 
such young persons accept religion, they find that it 
agrees with habits already formed, and begets a 
lively hope that all evil may be overcome by the 
grace of God. 



Bishop H. H. Kavanaugh. 19 

But we wish to be particular in explaining to all 
the young people present the leading features of 
character formed by our dear friend in his opening 
life. He was possessed of firmness and kindness 
blended in harmony. Some study and watchfulness 
are necessary to unite these qualities. All his after 
life showed how admirably they were existing in 
him. He studied his positions well, he believed he 
was right, and consequently he seldom changed. 
But in exercising his episcopal power, he never for- 
got that the judge is supj)osed to be on the side of 
the weak and even of the criminal. A preacher 
involved in trouble had a host for him if he could 
enlist Bishop Kavanaugh in his behalf. And these 
qualities of firmness and kindness went back to the 
days of his youth, and were qualities of his own 
choice. 

Added to these he had what the world properly 
calls honor and integrity. His word was his bond. 
He never practiced artifice for an hour in his life. 
He never asked an easy place that others might be 
sent in his stead to bear hardship. He never round- 
ed a period to hide any part of the truth. He 
meant all that he said, and no more. These quali- 
ties were voluntarily preferred by him to their op- 
posites, and they belonged to him before he was a 
Christian or a preacher. Having them made re- 
ligion an easy garment to wear. 

Lastly, he persevered in any work begun. This 



20 Bishop H. H. Kavanaugii. 

led him to make the most of life, and early to 
choose one vocation and to follow it through evil 
and through good report. Life is too short to make 
changes. Let the young people study well the few 
positive qualities named. 

Prudence and wordly prosperity will approve of 
the choice made at this period of his life. But one 
of far greater moment remained to be considered 
by our beloved Bishop. It was the question of the 
salvation of his soul by Jesus Christ. He decided 
to be on the Lord's side, and that gave direction to 
the whole course of his life. This w r as his second 
voluntary choice, and was far more important than 
the first. He sought and found a true conversion, 
by which he knew for himself that he was a new 
creature in Christ. Religion with him was a reality 
a thousand times more than it was a profession. He 
joined the Church that his name might be regis- 
tered in her books and at the same time in the 
Lamb's book of life. 

Let us appeal to the good sense of the rising gen- 
eration w T hile we ask them if each step taken thus 
far in the life of our honored Bishop was not well 
and wisely taken. Do you see any one that he 
could have safely omitted? Suppose his union with 
the Church had been merely by emotion or excite- 
ment, or for credit, or to escape danger, of what 
real good would such a profession be proof? None 
at all. We beseech all young people to let the no- 



Bishop H. H. Kavanaugh. 21 

blest and purest principles of heart and life actuate 
them when they take upon themselves the vows of 
the house of God. 

Soon the question arose with this young man: 
" What is my life work ? Shall I continue in the 
printing business, as, I have begun?" And then 
that solemn impression of soul came to him from 
heaven that every true minister has felt : " Son,* go 
work to-day in my vineyard. Feed my sheep. 
Feed my lambs. Call sinners to repentance. Go 
into all the world and preach the gospel to every 
creature." The call was from God, and he obeyed. 
This was his third voluntary choice, deliberately 
made. The care of souls was upon him, and he 
had no time for more than sixty years to do any 
thing else than preach the unsearchable riches of 
Christ. 

From the first sermon he was popular. He 
preached with the power of the Holy Ghost sent 
down from heaven. He had no time for an aca- 
demic course in the schools, but he studied books 
and men as he ran, and as he ran he preached. 
He felt that God had given him a territory greater 
than the Czar of Russia or the Queen of England 
possesses. They have metes and bounds, but the 
world was his parish. He was one of the few men 
who never sought elevation in the Church of God. 
Goodness through grace was in his heart, and the 
care of all the churches was laid upon him by his 



22 Bishop H. H. Kavanaugh. 

brethren. He was one of the few men who re- 
mained unchanged by elevation, the only effect be- 
ing to increase his sense of responsibility and his 
desire to do good. We knew him for more than 
forty years, and heard him preach in the station, in 
the district, in the episcopal office, in the mountains 
and in the city, and at all times and in all places 
the message, the manner, and the result were the 
same. 

What did he preach in all the years of his useful 
life? 

He studied a few books thoroughly. The Bible 
was the book by which he tried all others. In 
doctrine he was an Arminian Methodist; and he 
held the tenets of his Church with unwavering 
fidelity. He studied Wesley, Watson, and Fletch- 
er, comparing them with the Scriptures, and 
reading them with a view to find truth and not 
error. He did not expect to get beyond them in 
knowledge. They were orthodox and scriptural, 
and he was satisfied with these qualities. He 
studied Watson's Institutes for more than sixty 
years. It would be difficult for any intelligent man 
to doubt the truthfulness of the Scriptures if he 
read carefully the first volume of this work without 
prejudice. It has been said that Gov. Owsley, be- 
fore and after he had retired from the Appellate 
Bench, read Blackstone every year. All lawyers 
will understand the significance of this remark. 



Bishop H. H. Kavanaugh. 23 

So Bishop Kavanaugh studied Watson; so our 
preachers should study him at this day. They 
should sit at his feet, and not present the ridiculous 
appearance of trying to lead him. Watson was 
called of God to give a clear exposition of the 
Scriptures, and to draw the line of truth half way 
between Antinomianism and Pelagianism. 

Every Bible student knows that no finite mind 
can see all its truths in one view. There must be 
leading divisions for study, faith, and duty. So 
Bishop Kavanaugh studied the Bible, and found 
it contained the following general truths, which he 
preached throughout his ministry. 

He learned from the Scriptures that there was 
one living and true God, and in the Godhead there 
were three Persons — Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
a trinity in unity. The Scriptures taught him that 
Jesus Christ was divine and human, the latter nat- 
ure being voluntarily taken by him for the redemp- 
tion of our race. In the best possible faith he 
found from the word of God that Christ, by his 
death, made atonement for the sins of the whole 
w r orld, so that, while infants are born with a mor- 
ally corrupt nature, they and all others dying be- 
fore actual sins of their own are committed are 
saved in heaven. He held from the Scriptures that 
the Holy Spirit personally and actually convicts 
men of sin, gives them repentance and faith, regen- 
erates and sanctifies them, and continues to bear wit- 



24 Bishop H. H. Kavanaugh. 

ness in believers as long as they are faithful. While 
the Saviour and the Holy Spirit both influence men 
through the word and by other means, he found 
that both had direct and personal access to the 
heart and life of all who believe. By the fall, he 
found that man had lost the image and likeness of 
God in which he was created, and had become to- 
tally depraved in his whole moral and spiritual 
nature. He found that man can only return to the 
favor of God through his Son by faith in his right- 
eousness. After the soul was regenerated, he learned 
through the Scriptures that there was only a possi- 
bility, but a very plain possibility, that the Christian 
might depart from God and lose salvation. He as- 
certained that good works in the religious life were 
indispensable, as God would judge all men by the 
deeds done in the body; but there w T as to be no 
merit ascribed to good works as the procuring cause 
of salvation. After death, he found that the Script- 
ures taught that there was an actual eternal heaven 
for the righteous and an actual eternal hell for the 
wicked. These were the chief doctrines which he 
believed and preached with wonderful power for 
more than sixty years. 

Bishop Kavanaugh was welcomed by every Con- 
ference as its presiding officer. His genial nature 
made all love him as a father. His long association 
with men had given him a wonderful insight into 
their nature and character. No man was a better 



Bishop H. H. Kavanaugh. 25 

judge than he of the right man for the right place. 
The preachers were safer in his hands than they 
were in their own, as he knew better than they their 
capacity and place. Woe to the man whose vanity 
or forwardness came before the keen wit of Bishop 
Kavanaugh! He not only fell, but he knew that 
he had fallen. 

We close with naming his extraordinary faith. 
First, he had unwavering faith in the Church and 
its success. He always saw it as the Church of 
God. He knew its strength was from heaven and 
not from earth. Divisions and declensions were 
only temporary hinderances in his mind. The lect- 
ure of an infidel Avas so ineffectual, in his mind, to 
disturb Christianity that it was beneath his notice. 
In each believer he realized that his body was the 
temple of the Holy Ghost. In each society of be- 
lievers he held that two could put ten thousand of 
the wicked to flight. This cheerful and encourag- 
ing view of the Church made him love all denomi- 
nations. Without compromising any truth, he of- 
fered his hand and heart in true fraternity to all 
who claimed Jesus as their Lord. Second, he had 
daily, personal, abiding, and conscious faith in Christ 
He walked with Jesus in spirit as truly as if he had 
traveled with him bodily in Galilee or Jerusalem. 
So he lived, and so he died. "A far more exceeding 
and eternal weight of glory" is his reward. Choose 
ye his God, and discard Baal. 






26 Bishop H. H. KavanauCxH. 

We have said but little to-day about death. To 
those who are scarcely saved, death seeing an im- 
mense and fearful crossing from time to eternity; 
but our beloved Bishop, with all the true elect of 
God, must be seen in their lives, and to them bodily 
death is only a single step and the narrowest pass- 
way from earth to the paradise of God. Hence all 
descriptions of death on this occasion would be wide 
of our aim and unnecessary in speaking of one who 
could exclaim, a O death, where is thy sting? O 
grave where is thy victory?" It has been all life 
for more than sixty years with our brother, and 
death was a line so small between time and eternity 
as to be almost invisible, while light and life con- 
tinue in all the ages to come. Be ye also ready. 



OUR LORD'S PARABLES. 



The Sower. 



" Behold, there went out a sower to sow ; and it came to 
pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way-side, and the fowls 
of the air came and devoured it up. And some fell on stony 
ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it 
sprung up, because it had no depth of earth ; but when the 
sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it 
withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the 
thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. 
And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that 
sprung up and increased, and brought forth, some thirty, 
and some sixty, and some a hundred." Mark iv. 3-8. 

THE parable of the sower is among the first of 
all our Lord's parables. It evidently made a 
deep impression when it was spoken, as three of the 
sacred writers give it a place in their Gospel. Found- 
ed on agricultural life, it is adapted to all lands and 
times, as perhaps a majority of all who read it will 
be employed in tilling the ground. As city, town, 
and country, all depend upon the cultivated field 
for bodily sustenance, this parable is eminently 
proper as showing, in the very beginning of our 

(27) 



28 Our Lord's Parables. 

Saviour's ministry, the nature of his gospel in 
giving spiritual light and life to all men. 

Matthew and Mark record this parable in exactly 
six verses each, while Luke, whose style is always 
perspicuous, employs only four verses. As a proof 
that this was not by concert of action between them, 
Ave have but to state to the reader that the original 
manuscript of the Gospels was not divided into vers- 
es and chapters, but this division is a work of later 
date. As an unusual number of figures appear in 
the recital — sower, seed, ground, way -side, thorny 
ground, good ground, thirty, sixty, and a hundred 
fold of grain, and other circumstances — the belief 
is strong that the parable made a deep impression 
on their minds from the lucid and brief statement 
of all its terms by three writers, in nearly the same 
number of words. 

We believe that the products of the field earned 
by the sweat of the brow w T ere intended before all 
other work to be the employment of the large ma- 
jority of mankind after the fall. The country is 
large and the town small in the comparison. Cow- 
per wrote, " God made the country and man made 
the town." Vast acres are spread over all the land 
adapted to every variety of growth knowm to man. 
All the industries are studied by men with great 
labor of invention and experiment, but God makes 
the soil and the seed, and gives the rain and the sun- 
shine, and the right temperature, and man only ap- 



The Sower. 29 

plies his gifts, and the earth brings forth seed-time and 
harvest. How many young men miss the noblest 
calling of life when they refuse to cultivate the field ! 

In this parable every thing is good until disturbed 
by a foreign element — a good sower, good seed, good 
ground, good year, good harvest. All the failures 
recorded are left without excuse, as every help was 
furnished to avoid them. 

Let us consider separately the figures employed. 

The sower is first named. Mark says, " There went 
out a sower to sow." Matthew says, " Behold a sower 
went forth to sow." Luke says, "A sower went out 
to sow his seed." Each begins the parable with the 
sower and his specific work. We know that the 
chief sower is the Son of God, from the fact that 
the seed sown is the word of God, and he is the 
author and giver of that word. We also know that 
his ministers and other servants, under him and by 
his appointment, are sowers of the word of life. We 
are thankful that the parable and our work together 
begin with Jesus Christ. All true religion begins 
with God, and every moment of its continuance de- 
pends on his grace. The Bible began with God: 
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the 
earth." The gospel begins with God and his Son: 
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word 
^Yas with God, and the Word was God." Let us 
begin aright. "For other foundation can no man 
lay than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus/' 



30 Our Lord's Parables. 

Behold the activity of Jesus as the Chief Sower ! 
He went forth to sow the seed of truth. Paul 
passed two years in his own hired house preaching 
the gospel, and this is the longest pastorate known 
in the New Testament. The twelve apostles, the 
seventy, and all the ministers in the days of our 
Lord, were heeding a command from heaven which 
said, "Go ye into all the world and preach the 
gospel to every creature/' The Czar of srll the Rus- 
sias has a limited territory ; the minister of Christ 
alone can say, "The w T orld is my parish." The 
pious Montgomery has taught us to sing: 

Sow in the morn thy seed, 

At eve hold not thy hand ; 
To doubt and fear give thou no heed — 

Broadcast it o'er the land. 

Beside all waters sow, 

The highway furrows stock, 
Drop it where thorns and thistles grow, 

Scatter it on the rock. 

Our Chief Sow T er went about doing good. City, 
town, and country were all visited on his missions 
of mercy. He w T as our Chief Itinerant. In a min- 
istry of only three years' continuance he preached 
all over Palestine, receiving no salary, working a 
miracle to pay a poll-tax, and saying of himself, 
"The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air 
have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to 
lay his head." His example of constant labor is 



The Sower. 31 

our model. He was ever instant in season and out 
of season. 

Consider a moment the unreasonableness of our 
complaints. We believe that twenty years is more 
than the average period of effective work with our 
ministers as a body. Four years is the legal limit- 
ation of time in one work. A preacher may stay 
one-fifth of his time in a single charge. With a 
jurisdiction that extends to all the world, he con- 
tents himself as doing his whole duty by preaching 
four years to two hundred people on the Sabbath- 
day, and those the same people all the time. Possi- 
bly he is dissatisfied with the law of the Church 
when he is required to go to another field of labor 
at the end of four years. He has gifts that would 
be effective in reaching some hearts in all places, 
but he expends his strength on the same people 
year after year. He voluntarily accepted the itin- 
erant field as his life-work, and yet locality seems 
to him the ecstasy of bliss. Instead of sowing the 
whole field, as the Master did, he has only sowed as 
much ground as his own lot in the cemetery. 

The seed is the word of God. When Satan 
tempted Jesus, our Lord used only the word of 
God, repelling every temptation with an apt quota- 
tion after the words, "It is written." Consider a 
moment the word of God — the Bible. The book 
as it now stands was fifteen hundred years in prep- 
aration. We doubt whether any book of man can 



32 Our Lord's Parables. 

number more than one hundred years from its com- 
mencement to its completion. More than two thou- 
sand years had elapsed before any portion of the 
word of God was given, so that mankind might be 
able to disprove its claims if they were false from 
the time of writing the first page. Some forty au- 
thors composed the Holy Scriptures, all scripture be- 
ing given by inspiration of God. Every variety of 
scholarship and talent is employed, the writers liv- 
ing centuries apart, and the themes above the com- 
pass of uninspired men. God, eternity, heaven, hell, 
redemption, sin, holiness, duty, angels, and devils, 
are a few of the subjects largely treated in this won- 
derful volume. No amount of scientific discovery or 
philosophic speculation ever explained these grand 
subjects to mankind. Here, under the claim of inspi- 
ration from heaven, some forty authors, without the 
least confederation or consultation with one another, 
bring them to the observation and faith of men as 
plainly as if they were only the rudimentary prin- 
ciples of knowledge on the subjects named. In all 
the book nothing wrong is ever tolerated, and all 
that is right is taught and commanded. Every step 
of public and private life may be safely taken by the 
light of this book. Is it not the truth from heaven? 
The field of the parable is the world, and the 
sower sowed the seed over the whole field. Here 
we find the first equality among men. Not a line 
of the Bible was written exclusively for royal eyes, 



The Sower. 33 

and not a line that the peasant may not read, be- 
lieve, and obey. God is no respecter of persons, but 
mankind are selfish, and have never learned to re- 
gard the poor as favorably as the rich and to honor 
the humble as truly as the proud and great of the 
earth. The most striking difference between the 
Christian system and every other is its equality of 
consideration for all conditions of life. 

The sower sowed the whole field. John said, " The 
whole world lieth in wickedness." Jesus taught us 
that " God so loved the world that he gave his only- 
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him might 
not perish, but have everlasting life." But with all 
this equal love of God for all nations and all times, 
and his imperative command to sow the good seed 
in all the world by various agencies duly appointed 
and commissioned, what painful sight do we behold ! 
After furnishing the Church seed, which, if planted 
and cultivated, would produce at the minimum 
estimate thirty-fold increase, so as to enlarge the 
capacity to produce more, we find in the nineteenth 
century only a small part of the globe on which the 
good seed has been sown. The largest part of its 
area is held in chains by idolatry, superstition, and 
the devil. Civilization and peace among all men 
are held back by this want of imitation of our Chief 
Sower, and ignorance, war, and all manner of crime 
run riot over the earth. How long, O Lord, how 
long, before all Christians shall cooperate and put 
3 



34 Our Lord's Parables. 

forth all their strength to go or send the good seed 
into every nook and cranny of this sinful world ? 

The last figure is the good result. Thirty, sixty, 
and a hundred fold is a wonderful increase in any 
department of life. But this is simply the power of 
truth over error, and of righteousness over ungod- 
liness. The wicked often suppose that they have 
accomplished vastly more than the righteous be- 
cause their flourish of trumpets has been heard, 
and the cry, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!" 
has been repeated from age to age and from nation 
to nation. Still the permanent result is no more 
than firing blank cartridges in a fierce battle. The 
wicked shall not live out half their days, and their 
plans are not better or more secure than their life. 
The psalmist teaches us in the first Psalm that even 
their way shall perish while they are yet alive. 
There is no agreed concert of action between the 
wicked, no faith in their leadership, no monuments 
of charity for the suffering to endear the world to 
them, and all their pleasures, fashions, and pur- 
suits changing from youth to manhood and from 
manhood to old age. 

In opposition to the wicked, the righteous know 
that all truth is immortal. They know that Jesus 
is the truth, the way, and the life. They realize 
that the blessing of truth to themselves would be 
an equal blessing if the same truth should be car- 
ried to the ends of the earth. The spires of their 



The Sower. 35 

churches, orphanages, and colleges, which point to- 
ward heaven in the name of the crucified One, are 
equally needed in China, Japan, the isles of the 
ocean, and all the places of the earth inhabited by 
man. The least gain expected is thirty-fold. Every 
prayer offered to the Lord of hosts by his children 
in the words "Thy kingdom come" expects this 
amount of increase, or more. No Christian believes 
that the word of the Lord shall return void from 
any place at any time. We now have notable in- 
stances in the heathen world, occurring almost every 
month, where men of superior mind and large in- 
fluence, without examining the abundant proofs 
miracles and prophecy afford, believe our religion 
is true, and yield their hearts and lives to the service 
of Christ, from the beautiful lessons of virtue and 
love taught in his word. The seed therefore com- 
mends itself as being good by its own appearance 
and results. 

The doctrine taught in this parable is the one 
above all others that we rejoice to know the Lord 
stated plainly in the beginning of his parables. In 
the atonement of Christ propitiation is made for the 
sins of the whole world, and in his crucifixion he 
tasted death for every man. The good sower sowed 
the good seed over the whole field, which is the 
world. Whosoever will may take the water of life 
freely, and may eat and live. The way -side, the 
rocky ground, and the thorny ground received the 



36 Our Lord's Parables. 

best seed from the kind hands that scattered it in 
all places in unsparing measure and with unceasing 
care. 

That our blessed Lord in good faith died for all 
men is now more generally believed than it was 
one hundred years ago or more, when Methodism 
took its rise in England. The writings of Fletcher, 
Wesley, Watson, Benson, and Clarke silenced Cal- 
vinism forever as to its grand error of election and 
reprobation. From the belief in the decree of God 
held by Calvin, which he admitted was a horrible 
decree, by which a certain number of adults and 
infants were supposed to be consigned to everlasting 
wrath from eternity, to its most modified form as 
taught by Baxter and others, where a general atone- 
ment is admitted and a special application in the same 
moment held, by which only the elect can believe 
on Christ, there is nothing in the schemes consistent 
with reason or taught in Scripture. No good pur- 
pose of morals is served by this error, nor is there 
a ray of comfort to any soul, as all are obliged to 
pass their pilgrimage uncertain whether they are 
elect or reprobate. It would be a distressing 
thought that in every family of three the probabil- 
ity would be that at least one was reprobate, and 
possibly that one the infant at its mother's breast. 

This error originated in the truth that God is 
sovereign and does the work of our salvation, and 
that no saving righteousness attaches to any of our 



The Sower. 37 

works of obedience. So we see that error may 
spring from truth. Both these views are held as 
firmly by Wesley an Arminians as by any form of 
Calvinism, and with reason and Scripture to support 
them. It is wholly unnecessary to assert an eternal 
purpose and decree of God to make him a Sovereign, 
because without these he is a Sovereign in consequence 
of being our Creator, King, and Kedeemer. It is 
wholly unnecessary to assert the passivity of man 
in every religious act to avoid the claim of merit 
on his part for his acts of obedience, because the 
blood of Christ and his substitution to the law of 
God in our stead will as effectually silence every 
whisper of merit. 

We believe that the greatest difficulty in freeing 
the mind from this Calvinistic error arises from the 
supposition that the foreknowledge of God necessa- 
rily implies that he has decreed all things to the 
extent of that knowledge. As plainly illogical as 
this view is, still it is the stumbling-block in many 
minds. To us it seems strange that any one should 
suppose that the knowledge of a thing is necessarily 
the cause of the thing known. The existence of 
the things known, as a general rule, is prior to the 
knowledge of them, and of all such things the 
knowledge cannot be the cause. And where the 
things known are # to take place in the future, it is 
evident that the knowledge is distinct from the 
event, as the event cannot exist until the future time 



38 Our Lord's Parables. 

arrives. Still we are met with the question, " If God 
foreknows all things, will they not come to pass just 
as he foreknew them ? " We answer : " Yes ; but this 
is no proof that God decreed that they should come 
to pass." From the unlimited perfections of God, he 
must foreknow all things. Known unto God are 
all his works from the beginning of the world. But 
our own consciousness assures us that the knowledge 
of God is no constraint upon our will. We may 
choose or reject, and we voluntarily do these things 
every day of our lives. His knowledge no more 
controls our will than his power keeps our arm from 
moving. God is omnipotent — by which we mean 
that he is all-powerful; and yet we are very sure 
that we have some power. The Lord has not kept 
in his own* hand a monopoly of power because he 
has all power; nor has he kept a monopoly of 
knowledge because he has all wisdom. His attri- 
butes never interfere with the free use of our ability. 
He is a helping and not a hindering God. 

It would be impossible to assign a satisfactory 
reason for a limited atonement. The only reason 
that has even a show of plausibility is that God 
may do as he will with his own. But this state- 
ment must be received so as to. harmonize all his 
attributes. We are not to suppose that because 
God is omnipotent he could therefore justly send 
the holy angels of heaven to hell. The very thought 
is shocking and monstrous. Neither may we sup- 



The Sower. 39 

pose that God could bring a descendant of Adam 
into the world without his consent, with the corrup- 
tion of moral nature that would attach to him, and 
then by an irreversible decree, written in the past 
eternity, doom this person to an eternal hell for 
rejecting Christ, when the same decree had made it 
impossible for him to accept Christ. 

Our Lord affirmed that he had not come to call 
the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. Accord- 
ing to the error that we are opposing, if it had been 
true he would have said: "I am not come to call 
sinners, but the elect, to a hope which they cannot 
lose, either in this world or the world to come." But 
he strangely reverses it, and calls those to repentance 
whom the decree supposes cannot be saved. Paul 
says that Jesus came into the world to save sinners ; 
the error says that he came to save the elect. Eze- 
kiel says that " God has no pleasure in the death of 
him that dieth;" but the error says that this death 
was ordered from eternity, and that God has pleas- 
ure only in those who were decreed to eternal life. 
Just at the close of the Scriptures it is said that 
" whosoever will may take the water of life freely ; " 
but the error has decided that all the reprobate can- 
not have any will under God's decree to take the 
water of life. 

When our Lord was dying, he prayed for his 
murderers: "Father, forgive them, for they know 
not what they do." Can any one believe that these 



40 Our Lord's Parables. 

murderers were a body of the elect who might re- 
ceive our Lord's prayers to their spiritual profit? 
Can any one believe that if they had been rep- 
robated from all eternity Jesus would have 
prayed to his Father for their forgiveness, when he 
knew that their forgiveness was an impossibility? 
The truth is, they were all sinners for whom Christ 
was dying, and in their hearing, w T ith the desire that 
some of them might turn and live, he made the 
prayer. At least one poor wretch at his side did 
turn and live, and on that day entered paradise. 

The duty taught in this parable is continuance 
in well-doing and avoiding the enemies of our souls 
who beset us from within and without. 

From the day that the seed was sown until the 
day that the harvest was gathered, there was never 
an hour w T hen it could stop growing and live. With- 
out soil, sunshine, rain, and culture, it would soon 
die. It could only strengthen and mature by a 
continuance of growth. Each one of its enemies, 
left alone, would insure its death. If the seed fell 
on the way-side and remained there unprotected, the 
birds of the air soon devoured it up. If we remain 
out of the Church and with sinners, our ruin is 
soon complete. If an unremoved rock should be 
beneath and near the seed, a shallow soil would not 
long protect the young growth, but the heat of the 
sun wxuld presently stop its growth and destroy its 
life. If our religion begins with excitement and 



The Sower. 41 

emotion that cannot last long, taunts and opposi- 
tion will destroy our religious life as soon as the first 
days are past. If thorns are allowed to grow where 
the seed is growing, their roots and their trunk, and 
their branches and their shade, will soon produce 
death. So if all worldly cares and pleasures are 
allowed a place in our hearts with the good seed, 
soon or late they will be our master and we shall 
fall from grace. Keeping, these suggestions in mind, 
let us consider the varieties of soil and result in de- 
tail. 

The way-side hearer is first named. "And it came 
to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way-side, and the 
fowls of the air came and devoured it up." " These 
are they by the way-side, where the word is sown ; 
but when they have heard, Satan cometh immedi- 
ately, and taketh away the word that was sown in 
their hearts." Strictly, a way-side is the border of a 
path or road, but here it is the entire line of travel. 
It was made over the field after the sower had pre- 
pared that part of the ground for the reception of 
the seed. The hearts of the young are so prepared 
by divine grace that all the good seed of the word 
of God would produce fruit, if it were not for the 
fact that a way-side is made in them before the time 
for sowing the precious seed of divine truth. A 
well-remembered part of our boyhood history will 
illustrate how a way-side is made. Our father was 
a school-teacher, and a new school-house was built 



42 Our Lord's Parables. 

for his occupancy, but to reach it all the scholars 
had to pass through a dense wood nearly a mile, and 
where no path or road had ever been made. To 
keep the children from missing the way, our father 
blazed the trees w 7 ith an ax. This led each child 
to w T alk in the same place. In a short time a path- 
way became perceptible, which became harder and 
easier seen as it was more and more used ; and it was 
observed that as soon as this w r ay-side w T as distin- 
guishable the blazed trees were forgotten. So when 
a way-side of sinful thoughts or actions is once 
formed in the heart, only to a small extent, the 
teachings of parents, ministers, and others are set 
aside and begin to fade from the memory. 

The w 7 ay-side hearers are those who have ears to 
hear and hear not. They take no heed how they 
hear. Gallio was a way-side hearer who cared for 
none of those things which were spoken. Ephraim 
was a way-side hearer w^ho became joined to his 
idols until the Lord said, "Let him alone." Our 
Lord had some way-side hearers who made light of 
all his teachings. In the parable of the Great Sup- 
per there were three classes of way-side hearers w T ho 
avoided the invitation to the feast w T hen they began 
with one consent to make excuse. All atheists, in- 
fidels, and deists are w r ay-side hearers, being evil 
classes of men who ignore the government of God 
from different stand-points, but in whose hearts the 
good seed finds no lodgment for a single hour or 



The Sower. 43 

day. The way-side hearers are those who enter the 
church and leave at the close of the service with- 
out receiving any impression for good, and possibly 
without being able to remember the text, hymns, 
prayers, or any part of the sermon. 

On the heart of a way-side hearer the seed falls 
without entering to any extent. And then imme- 
diately the birds of the air with their keen eyes in 
the figure, but Satan in reality, snatch the seed and 
devour it up. Even on this hard way-side, if the 
seed remain until the warm and gentle rains fall, 
representing the grace and Spirit of God, they 
might grow and produce fruit. Hence Satan does 
his evil work immediately. In his ranks such a 
thing as procrastination is unknown. The unsus- 
pecting victim is not left time to think, feel, reason, 
or act, but instantly, and with the clear vision of a 
bird searching for seed, he takes away every good 
impression. 

The same field may have various way-sides. One 
may run across the field for the convenience of one 
party, another may run across the corners of the 
field, and another along the line of one or more of 
the sides of the field. The grumbler may have one 
way-side, the swearer another, the drunkard a third, 
the lover of pleasure one of a kind different from 
the rest, and the unbeliever and practical sinner a 
way-side adapted to their vicious tastes. iSotice 
that a way-side occupies the least ground of any 



44 Our Lord's Parables. 

part of the field, and yet it is traveled more than 
all the rest. Wickedness follows on the heels of 
wickedness, the heart of one hardening the heart of 
another, until the ungodly stand in a solid column 
of opposition to the laws of Heaven. 

Evidently the w 7 ay-side hearers give Satan far 
less trouble in effecting their ruin than either of the 
other classes. They are already sold under sin. 
As to many of them, their sins are gone to judg- 
ment beforehand. They have hardened their 
hearts and stiffened their necks against all divine 
teaching and influence, and their consciences are 
seared as with a hot iron. A dream that we read 
years ago will illustrate the proceedings *of Satan 
with them. The writer dreamed that he had taken 
his seat at the side of a distinguished preacher, to 
hear him preach for the first time. The hearer sat 
facing the audience, and the preacher's subject was 
the sower. While he w T as depicting the way-side 
hearers, a man in the audience, dressed in black and 
of strange appearance, began gathering up the seed 
that was falling on the crowd. It soon appeared 
that he had devoured up all the seed, and then the 
dreamer discovered it was the devil. The next day, 
riding along the road and thinking of the strange 
occurrence at the meeting, he passed a saloon where 
men were drinking, swearing, and fighting, and he 
dreamed he entered, with the expectation that he 
would find the man in black as he had seen him the 



The Sower. 45 

day before. To his surprise, after the most careful 
search, he was not found. Pursuing his journey, 
unexpectedly, he came across the man in black ly- 
ing by the road-side asleep. Awaking him, he said : 
" If you will go back to the saloon you can find a 
number of men whom you can easily influence to 
act with you in evil." The devil replied : " You do 
not understand my mission. Those men in the sa- 
loon are graduates of mine, and need no training. 
I am resting to-day, as a camp-meeting will begin 
to-morrow in this neighborhood, and if you attend 
there you will see the character of my work dis- 
played to advantage in many ways." 

Next come the stony ground hearers. "And 
some fell on stony ground, where it had not much 
earth, and immediately it sprung up, because it had 
no depth of earth ; but when the sun was up, it was 
scorched; and because it had no root, it withered 
away." "And these are they likewise which are sown 
on stony ground; who, when they have heard the 
word, immediately receive it with gladness ; and have 
no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time ; 
afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for 
the word's sake, immediately they are offended." 

The advantage of this class of hearers over the 
way-side hearers is only apparent and temporary. 
It is only apparent because the hidden rock just 
beneath the surface is as certain, and probably more 
certain, to destroy the fruit than the way -side 



46 Our Lord's Parables. 

ground, as that could be improved by culture and 
softened by the rain. Often it is true that the 
worst sinners become the best Christians if they can 
be persuaded to repent, while those who from mere 
excitement profess religion soonest forsake and neg- 
lect the altars of the Church. The prodigal son, for a 
time, was much farther gone in wickedness than his 
elder brother, but when he came to himself his repent- 
ance and faith had more genuine proofs than the 
other. He who said, "I go not," and afterward 
repented and went, was commended beyond the 
man who said at once, " I go, sir," and went not. 

The class of hearers here specified act more from 
impulse and excitement than from conviction and 
reason. They will profess religion under any doc- 
trines in any Church, if the community attending 
that Church is moved with religious fervor. They 
will not profess religion alone, nor join the Church 
alone, but at some opportune moment, when certain 
persons are at the altar of prayer, or have offered 
themselves as members, they will do the same thing; 
or if a certain minister has preached, or certain 
hymns or songs are sung which are known to be 
their favorites, they will act immediately. So it is 
evident that no heart-principle, or repentance toward 
God, or faith in Christ, have influenced their con- 
duct, but the surrounding circumstances in which 
they happen to be placed have impelled the step 
they have taken. There is no depth of earth and 



The Sower. 47 

no root in themselves, and therefore under the rays 
of the sun, intended to give life to all who can bear 
them, they perish from excess of heat. Even the 
sun becomes a savor of death unto death. 

Two things hasten the ruin of all stony ground 
hearers — affliction and persecution. Their religion 
is adapted only to a healthy body and mind, and 
the encouragement of friends. Satan knows well 
enough that affliction and persecution will always 
appear as trials in every religious professor's life, 
the faithful enduring to the end, the unstable fall- 
ing before their power. They are certain tests of 
character which separate the precious from the vile. 
Afflictions are not so likely to succeed when alone 
in- causing him who has put his hand to the plow to 
look back, hence persecutions are added to them to 
complete the trial. The afflictions and persecutions 
named are for the word's sake, or on account of the 
profession of religion made, and for no other cause 
or of any other kind. It may be that the persecu- 
tion is in the mild form of a laugh or a sneer from 
the thoughtless, or it may be the indignation of a 
parent toward a child, or the censure of a commu- 
nity toward one who following his own convictions 
of right and duty has left its ranks ; but in whatever 
form it comes, it is the most dangerous trial of the 
religious life. 

Be it observed that the grace of God implanted 
in any soul has such power that, although formed 



48 Our Lord's Parables. 

only in stony ground, it cannot be dislodged merely 
by the birds of the air devouring it, but the com- 
bined powers of affliction and persecution are neces- 
sary, aided by the father of lies, to turn the soul 
back to the beggarly elements of the world. This 
thought gives abundance of encouragement to ev- 
ery Christian to fight the good fight of faith and en- 
dure to the end. Let it not be supposed that the 
chances, humanly speaking, are barely equal that a 
Christian will be saved or lost. The probability is 
as a hundred to one that by the grace of God, the 
influence of the Church, and his own conscious 
experience of pardoned sins and the new life, he 
will overcome the world. " Let him that thinketh 
he standeth take heed lest he fall," and let him be 
" persuaded at the same time that neither life, nor 
death, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things 
present, nor things to come, nor any other creature, 
shall be able to separate him from the love of God 
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 

We now reach the thorny ground hearers, where 
the responsibility is vastly increased, from the fact 
that no fault i§ found with the seed falling on a 
hard way-side, nor on ground where rocks unseen 
are near the surface, but a class of surroundings 
which might be extirpated or avoided become their 
ruin. "And some fell among thorns, and the thorns 
grew up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit." 
"And these are they which are sown among thorns; 



The Sower. 49 

such as hear the word, and the cares of this world, 
and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other 
things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh 
unfruitful." The most despisable and ignominious 
fate is to be choked to death. Morally it is a fear- 
ful state of the heart to have all its virtue and finer 
spiritual sensibility destroyed, by the use and love 
of carnal and physical objects taken so near the 
heart as to stop its pulsations and choke it to inac- 
tion and loss of life. 

As the ground improves Satan finds more influ- 
ences are necessary to be brought on the field to 
insure the destruction of the soul. On the way-side 
ground the keen eyes of the birds succeeded in find- 
ing and destroying the seed ; on the stony ground it 
was necessary to have affliction and persecution to 
reach the end ; while on the thorny ground the cares 
of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the 
lusts of other things are all essential to steal the 
heart away from the love of God. But Satan will 
provide as many influences as are necessary to ef- 
fect the ruin of the soul in every heart where that 
ruin is not prevented by the removal of all noxious 
things and the bestowment of all heavenly supplies. 

The cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, 
and the lusts of other things embrace all sinful de- 
sires and pursuits. And no wonder that all these 
should be necessary to win souls away from the love 
of so good a thing as pure and undefiled religion. 
4 



50 Our Lord's Parables. 

If the cares of the world fail to disturb the quiet- 
ude of the believer in Jesus, then the devil adds to 
them the deceitfulness of riches; and if both fail, 
then he brings in promiscuously the lusts of other 
things, even of all' things that please the eye, the 
ear, the tongue, the emotions, and the heart. When 
the whole round of worldly appliances are exhausted 
and the believer maintains his integrity, then is it 
demonstrated that he is in good ground, producing 
fruit. But every one will be tried in all these 
ways, and will find that it is through much tribula- 
tion that he must enter into the kingdom of heaven. 

The cares of the world are increased by the grat- 
ification of all our desires. We ask and receive of 
a worldly kind, and our very success has increased 
our trouble and danger. Every desire belonging 
to earth should be limited by the petition, "Not my 
will but thine be done." As cares multiply and in- 
crease with every change, and especially with all 
accumulation, we cannot be judges of the quantity 
of things of the earth that we should have intrusted 
to us. 

The deceitfulness of riches is proverbial, viewed 
in every light. The deceit begins with a denial on 
the part of almost every man that he is rich. Par- 
adoxical as it may appear, many men imagine a 
keen sense of added poverty with added wealth. 
As an abiding possession nothing is more deceitful 
than riches. Literally they take to themselves 



The Sower. 51 

wings and fly away. Thieves break through and 
steal, moth corrupts, stocks lose their value, mort- 
gages are technically defective, the law's delays hold 
back the price, investments are made on a mistaken 
judgment of the outcome, profits are counted while 
losses and expenses are overlooked, and when the 
whole estate is vested in land and the title secured 
beyond controversy, the soil on the surface of the 
ground disappears year by year until the possessor 
is left in poverty. How often the expectation of 
heirs as to riches becomes a failure! The change 
of trades and pursuits to make more gain is as un- 
reliable as the wind that blows in the morning from 
the east, and in the evening from the west or south. 
" Go to now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we 
will go into such a city, and continue there a year, 
and buy and sell and get gain, whereas ye know 
not what shall be on the morrow." 

"The lusts of other things" includes all doubtful 
and sinful pleasures. It is only by abstaining from 
all appearance of evil that we shall overcome this 
last gilded bait of Satan. All the kingdoms of the 
world and the glory of them are here displayed and 
offered; and as these were Satan's last inducement 
to our Saviour in the temptation, so will he make 
them the last offer to us. Happy is the man that 
endureth temptation. The man who walks by the 
rule that he will in any thing violate the law of the 
Church in having the desires of his heart gratified will 



52 Our Lord's Parables. 

undoubtedly fall. There is no time to indulge sup- 
posed small sins or proximity to acknowledged 
danger. " Escape for thy life, and tarry not in all 
the plain." The very air stinks with the lusts of 
other things. " But thou, O man of God, flee these 
things ; flee also youthful lusts." 

We close with the good ground hearers. Every 
principle that can produce or continues involuntarily 
is destroyed. Sower, seed, culture, sunshine, rains, 
growth, and ripening, are all good. As there were 
three varieties of hearers whose life was a failure, 
so in those who succeed and reach heaven there are 
in this life three varieties or degrees of success — thir- 
ty, sixty, and a hundred fold. The seed and the 
soil are alike good, and even perfect ; but the capac- 
ity and industry of some in improving their gifts are 
greater than others. "And other fell on good ground, 
and did yield fruit that sprung up and increased, 
and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and 
some a hundred." "And these are they which are 
sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and 
receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirty-fold, 
some sixty, and some a hundred." 

On the question of acreage alone, no doubt the 
good ground outnumbered the way-side, the rocky 
ground, and the thickets of thorns, as ten or more 
outnumber one. The infants who are all saved 
when they die in infancy will probably number 
more than all lost sinners. The Revelation gives 



The Sower. 53 

the number of the redeemed who have their Fa- 
ther's name written in their foreheads as being a 
hundred, forty, and four thousand — a definite for a 
large and indefinite number. The saved are the rule, 
the lost the exception. 

And not only do the good ground hearers out- 
number the other classes in acreage, but also in in- 
fluence. Observe that the least influence of the 
humblest and most obscure Christian was thirty- 
fold, its first gain a double increase, and the last 
gain a hundred-fold — stated as the maximum of 
numbers indicating all attainable excellence. Gen- 
eral wickedness obtains in all the world, but specific 
acts as a rule have no record to follow them, and they 
die and are soon forgotten. The way-side hearers 
had no influence at all, the stony ground hearers 
soon died, and the thorny ground hearers exerted 
no influence, but were choked to death by their evil 
associations. The psalmist taught us that the very 
way of the ungodly shall perish ; his hopes and pur- 
suits all have to be changed repeatedly before he 
dies. Youth has one class of pleasures, manhood 
another, and age a third, each and all of them 
ephemeral and unsatisfying in their nature; and no 
more pitiable object can be conceived than an old 
sinner who is living with only a few days left and 
without God in the world, even his former friends 
and enjoyments having left him all alone to die and 
be forgotten. Not so the righteous. Every relig- 



54 Our Lord's Parables. 

ious principle is as fresh and green in old age as it 
was in youth. It is born of immortality, and can 
neither fade nor die. A cup of cold water given to 
a disciple in the name of our Lord shall not lose 
its reward nor be forgotten. The way-side that 
destroyed others was only a safe road for the feet 
of those w T ho went into the field to gather the fruit 
of the good ; the sun that scorched the stony ground 
hearers was essential aid to the rains, the soil, and 
the cultivation that so increased the fruits of the 
good ground ; and even the thorns were so used by 
the righteous as forming a temporary shade for the 
laborers, employing the world and riches and the 
various pursuits of* the world as necessary posses- 
sions of the body and mind in the present pilgrim- 
age, but all subordinate to the heavenly Canaan. 

What were the chief items of perfection that so 
distinguished the good ground hearers, producing 
such an abundant harvest as to equal the seven 
years of Egyptian plenty in the days of Joseph? 
To get rid of sin, all true Christians have volunta- 
rily emptied themselves of self-righteousness. They 
have not attempted to cure death with a disease, for 
they know that without the grace of God they are 
dead in trespasses and sins, and that their own 
righteousness is as filthy rags that will generate dis- 
ease in the body unless removed. The first relig- 
ious feeling is one of shame, producing repentance 
toward God, and then for the first time in the life 



The Sower. 55 

of that penitent soul there is joy in heaven, in the 
presence of the angels of God at the sight of that 
repentance. A deep consciousness of want at once 
impels such a sinner away from his own works, both 
as to their performance and merit, and to lay hold 
on Christ Jesus through faith as the only one who 
is mighty and able to save. All the time, just as 
the sun and the light, and the atmosphere and the 
rains, and the soil and the assiduous culture, have 
helped the good seed first to die, and then to live, 
and then to grow, and then to produce fruit, so the 
Holy Spirit in conviction, in repentance, in faith, 
in regeneration, and in growth in grace, has 
strengthened and sanctified the trusting soul until 
it passes from death unto life and is made every 
whit whole. 

It is high time to carry the good seed of the king- 
dom into all the world. The sower intended it for 
the whole field, but think how many million acres 
to-day have never received so much as one seed into 
their bosom ! " Go or send," is the motto. This is the 
true Christian tocsin of war against ungodliness, the 
Christian flag of "peace on earth, good-will toward 
men." The whole world lieth in wickedness, and 
more than half of it in palpable heathen darkness 
that can be seen and felt. " Come over into Mace- 
donia and help us ! " is a cry that has not ceased for 
nearly twenty centuries. Shall the world contin- 
ue a barren way-side, a fruitless stony ground, and 



56 Our Lord's Parables. 

a choked growth of thorns, while we have the good 
seed of the kingdom, withholding it from general 
use? Let us go forth and sow the field. Let this 
centennial year produce abundant fruit. 



The Tares. 



" The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which 
sowed good seed in his field ; but while men slept, his en- 
emy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went 
his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought 
forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants 
of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not 
thou sow good seed in thy field? From whence then hath 
it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. 
The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go 
and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye 
gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 
Let both grow together until the harvest ; and in the time 
of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together 
first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; 
but gather the wheat into my barn." Matt. xiii. 24-30. 

MATTHEW alone records the parable of the 
tares. Very wisely he places it just after 
the parable of the sower, as it is its counterpart. 
Its figures begin precisely as those of the sower, but 
they soon change, and bring to light other agencies 
and powers not developed in that parable. In both 
parables Christ explained all the figures and terms 
used, because he was asked to do so by his disciples. 
It is a notable instance of receiving very important 
information by soliciting the knowledge. Aware 

(57) 



58 Our Lord's Parables. 

of their ignorance, the disciples sought clearer light 
from the wisdom of their Lord, and thereby gained 
for themselves and all men a lucid exposition of 
words which, without it, would have left the best 
men in serious doubts, and filled the Church with 
controversy. We are taught in this example that 
we may always ask the Master, who will open our 
eyes to see the truth, and we shall certainly receive 
if we ask humbly and in faith. 

Notice that in this parable, as in the former, the 
sower of the good seed is the Son of man. Here he 
tells us the figure applies to himself. There we 
gained the knowledge of the fact because the seed 
was the word of God, and the Son of God gave us 
his word. In this parable, as in the other, the field 
is the world; so we may expect in the same sower 
and on the same ground the same activity, the same 
gracious providence, the same equal love, and the 
same happy results; and we would be surprised if 
enemies and opposition did not abound as in the 
other description. In this expectation we will not 
be disappointed, for we shall find, even in the fig- 
ure employed, that here a change begins from the 
vjord to living joersons; and to effect the ruin of the 
latter, the machinations of wickedness are brought 
to light in all their arts of deception, and in all 
their power of injury. 

While the sower and the field are the same in 
both parables, the seed sown is different; and here 



The Tares. 59 

a marked departure begins. In the former para- 
ble the seed was the icord of God; in this it is the 
children of the kingdom. With what inimitable ten- 
derness of expression does our Lord here speak of 
his followers as children of the kingdom! They 
are soon to be exposed to severe tests and danger- 
ous associations; and like a careful mother, before 
her child goes forth into the damp night air, wraps 
it in close and warm vestments, so our merciful 
Redeemer will give us a name of endearment to 
show us his love before he takes us so near Satan's 
seat that temptations will come, and sore trials be- 
fall. As soon as the figure changes from the incor- 
ruptible word of God, that no evil ones may touch 
successfully, to living human beings who may fall 
under the wiles of the devil, we see the agencies of 
wickedness, in plain view, seeking their destruction. 
While the good sower sowed good seed, which 
grew up children of the kingdom, his enemy sowed 
seed soon after, in the same field, that produced his 
own likeness, and became children of the devil. 
The one was wheat ; the other tares. The one was 
nutritious and life-sustaining ; the other innutritious 
and valueless. The one has a market value in all 
the world ; the other is as the chaff driven before 
the wind. The psalmist compares the righteous to 
a strong and beautiful tree planted by the rivers of 
water, while the unrighteous are as the lightest 
chaff, which the lightest wind of heaven will move 



60 Our Lord's Parables. 

from its place. The prodigal sod, as a sinner, was 
fed on the husks of bitter berries left by the swine. 
In this parable the children of the devil are the 
fruit of the tares sown at midnight in a spirit of 
enmity to all goodness — secretly, while all men slept 
— and the fruit, as might be expected, is evil, and 
only evil, continually. Tares are a bastard pro- 
duction, resembling corn or wheat, and growing up 
with them, promising fruit, but never yielding a 
single grain of value. So the wicked in the Church 
and in the world are found daily among the chil- 
dren of God, with a seeming prospect and promise 
of having a religious life; but the Lord knoweth 
them that are his. 

Concerning the sowing of the tares, the Lord 
said: "An enemy hath done this." The enemy 
that sowed them was the devil. Let us learn the 
character of the devil from the word of God. 

It is some show of kindness in the friends of the 
devil to deny his personality. They have not seen 
him, they say. He is only a principle. Neither 
have they seen God, nor angel, nor spirit, nor their 
own soul. Are these only principles, and not indi- 
viduals ? They see the works of the devil every 
day. No works are more manifest in all the world. 
They are in us and about us. They are in our 
neighbors and our children. They are potential 
and daring. Evidently they are the work of a 
person, and not a principle. But leaving such idle 



' 



The Tares. 61 

speculations, as infidelity asserts, we appeal to the 
word of God as the highest authority known among 
men. 

The Scriptures present the devil before us with 
many an alias. To-day an angel of light ; to-mor- 
row an emissary of darkness. Ever changing, he 
must be named according to his hues. Many of his 
distinguished followers, who venture upon large 
crimes, imitate his example, and when detected 
and indicted for offenses, it is found that in one city 
they bore one name, in the next which they vis- 
ited another ; and so continuing, they have to be 
recognized not by their names, which are legion, 
and have to be stated in the indictment as A B, 
alias C D, alias E F, but they are best known by 
their appearance, speech, address, and the like. The 
paternity of this trick is in their father, the chief 
devil. In heaven his name was Lucifer; in hell it 
is Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. On earth 
he is called the serpent, the tempter, the devil, Sa- 
tan, Apollyon, the prince of the power of the air, 
the wicked one, and by various other names. We 
do not doubt that Isaiah, in his reference to Luci- 
fer, describes his fall from heaven, as this view is 
largely supported by many scriptures, which speak 
of evil spirits in the world acting in opposition to 
good spirits. So in the beginning we are consider- 
ing a being who is full of cunning and enmity to 
our race, who has many to aid and abet him in all 



62 Our Lord's Parables. 

wickedness, and who has the knowledge and expe- 
rience of three worlds — heaven, earth, and hell. 

The history of a personal devil is found near the 
beginning of both Testaments, and soon after man 
was created, as described in the Old Testament, and 
soon after Jesus had begun his public ministry, as 
described in the New. In the first account he is 
called the serpent; in the second the tempter. He 
is the same person, but he already appears with an 
alias affixed. He was the first to contemn the gov- 
ernment of God. " God," he would say, " is a deceiver, 
and instead of holding you to an accountability, as 
he pretends, lie knows well enough that as soon as 
you eat the forbidden fruit your eyes will be opened, 
and you will be as gods." He preached the first 
heresy, and he and his followers have never been 
orthodox to this day. " Ye shall not surely die," 
w r as the flat contradiction of the word of the Lord, 
which had said, " Ye shall surely die." With four 
thousand years' experience as the tempter, he bold- 
ly assailed the Son of God to ruin him. Forty 
days of preparation by hunger were allowed to the 
tempter the better to prepare Jesus for a spirit of 
distrust of God ; but this long period of fasting 
only made him full of grace. In the wilderness, on 
a pinnacle of the temple, and on an exceedingly 
high mountain, he plied again and again his hellish 
darts. In the wilderness he could say: "Adam was 
alone when he fell ; here Jesus is alone, and may fall." 






The Tares. 63 

On a pinnacle of the temple he could say: "Adam 
fell in the holy garden ; Jesus may fall in the holy 
city." And on the mountain he could say : "Adam 
worshiped me in Eden; Jesus may bend the knee 
a little in this place, where, in one view, he can see 
and have offered to him the kingdoms of the world 
and the glory of them." Adam fell; but, blessed 
be God, Jesus withstood all the temptations of the 
tempter. A personal and wicked enemy, named 
the devil, sowed the tares. 

Some suppose that the Book of Job was written 
first of all the books of the Bible. In the first 
chapter the devil appears among the sons of God, 
and in the immediate presence of God. Another 
alias is given to him in the description. With 
Adam and Eve he was called the serpent, with 
Christ the tempter, and with Job Satan. He is a 
personal devil still, seeking to destroy Job. His 
evil designs may be seen in the dissolute lives of 
Job's children, and in his utter destruction of them 
and of all Job's property. The whole mischief 
produced by Satan in the account is not so unusual 
in the fact of its occurrence among men as in the 
fact of its finding a place in the sacred record. 

Why is it that such disposition to injure others is 
found in the devil? We answer, "Like begets its 
like." The truly good seek to make all others good. 
The wicked strive to reduce to their own plane of 
wickedness every particle of virtue and goodness 



64 Our Lord's Parables. 

found in any accountable creature. We see bad 
men daily whose conversation and conduct are con- 
stantly tending to destroy every good quality in 
others, and to make them vile as themselves. It is 
this evil disposition which makes it so dangerous 
for our children to associate with bad children. 
As all begin life with a depraved nature, we find 
that wickedness strikes into the heart as quickly 
as a spark ignites powder. It is with great pains 
that we induce our children to be good from prin- 
ciple, but just a whistle on the street from the vi- 
cious takes effect instantly. 

A few scriptures will set in strong light the per- 
sonality and malignity of the devil. We have no 
account that he ever seeks to change the character 
or course of the wicked; but it is said with em- 
phasis that if it were possible he would deceive the 
very elect. Paul calls the devil the god and the 
prince of this world. He is the ruler of all wick- 
edness. He is " the prince of the power of the air, 
the spirit that now worketh in the children of dis- 
obedience." Let any who may flatter themselves 
that the spirit of the devil does not at the present 
time effectually influence the spirits of men to wick- 
edness consider the emphasis of the word now in 
this quotation. In one of our Lord's famous con- 
versations with the Jews he presents this subject in 
all its fearful truth in his answer to them in the 
following words: "Ye are of your father, the devil, 



! 



The Tares. 65 

and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a 
murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the 
truth, because there is no truth in him. When he 
speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a 
liar, and the father of it." The chief delight of 
the devil is to disturb the assemblies of the saints. 
Two hundred years ago De Foe wrote concerning 
him, in this respect, these lines, which are as true 
at this day as they were in his time : 

Whenever God erects a house of prayer, 
The devil always builds a chapel there. 
And 't will be found, upon examination, 
The latter has the largest congregation. 

The servants are Christ's ministers and others 
who help to cultivate the field. It was their duty 
from seed-time to harvest to see that the good seed 
grew and ripened. After the devil sows tares in a 
field he pays no further attention to it, knowing 
that, like all noxious things, they will grow from 
the force of their own evil nature. But the good 
seed require a soil carefully prepared, and an assid- 
uous cultivation every day. For some time the 
wheat and the tares looked precisely alike. So in the 
Church the real and nominal Christians for a time 
have equal reputation for piety. But the careful serv- 
ants of the householder who, like faithful ministers, 
watched the growth every day, were the first to 
detect a difference in the plants. Many a religious 
formalist and hypocrite thinks that his sins rest se- 



66 Our Lord's Parables. 

cretly in his own bosom ; but the truth is his min- 
ister knows them too well, and aims many a well- 
directed shot from the pulpit at those very sins. 
The timely discovery proved the faithfulness of the 
servants, and at once the householder laid the blame 
at the right door, and excused them from any cen- 
sure. While Noah was a preacher of righteousness 
to the antediluvian world, he was free from guilt, 
although the imaginations of the thoughts of the 
hearts of all around him were evil, and only evil, 
and that continually. While Lot was faithful he 
w T as safe, although ten righteous persons could not 
be found in all Sodom and Gomorrah. 

Our Lord teaches us a valuable lesson in the zeal 
displayed by the servants, which was not according 
to knowledge. Certainly at that early time in the 
season they were not good judges of the tares as 
distinct from the wheat. They had barely made 
the discovery that all the products did not come 
from good seed ; and yet, with the imperfect knowl- 
edge possessed by them, they w T ere anxious to go 
into the field and commence an indiscriminate de- 
struction, that they might pluck up the tares. So 
it may be that a hasty exercise of discipline in the 
Church to suppress supposed or real errors of doc- 
trine or commission of offenses might, in its effects' 
be more deleterious than to let the good and bad 
grow together. The person holding the error may 
be cured by giving him longer time to study the 



The Tares. 67 

question. The sinning one may have done the act 
involuntarily, or only occasionally, before it has 
grown into a habit that will not or cannot be 
broken. The offender may be so connected with 
others who are the very salt of the earth that seri- 
ous disturbances would be created by the ejection. 
If a careful inspection should enable the tares gen- 
erally to be rooted up rather than the wheat, still, 
in some instances, the wheat would suffer. And so, 
all things considered, it is best that both shall grow 
together until harvest, and then an exact discrimina- 
tion will be made between the precious and the vile. 
The lesson is not against the enforcement of disci- 
pline in individual cases where that alone will effect 
a cure, but it is against a rash and hasty zeal in 
punishing communities or multitudes of evil per- 
sons who associate with the good. 

The reapers are the angels who shall be sent forth 
at the end of the world to gather all the tares into 
bundles for punishment. Into bundles; how ex- 
pressive! May it not be that sinners will be col- 
lected by classes, that their favorite sins may be 
seen in all their odiousness? Ten thousand times 
ten thousand gamblers doomed together and at 
once, then as many drunkards, then as many liars, 
then as many scoffers, then as many lovers of pleas- 
ure more than lovers of God, and so continuing 
until all that offend and do iniquity are hurled by 
the strong angels into the nethermost hell. 



68 Our Lord's Parables. 

No messengers more fit than the angels can be 
found in the universe to execute justice according 
to the Avill of God. Their strength and activity 
enable them to accomplish the work. Only one of 
two angels rained fire from heaven upon Sodom and 
Gomorrah. One angel took Peter from prison, not 
heeding bars or bolts. The good angels are speci- 
ally acquainted with the fallen angels, having seen 
them thrust out of heaven. Jude says : " The an- 
gels which kept not their first estate, but left their 
own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting 
chains under darkness unto the judgment of the 
great day." Very many accounts are found in the 
Bible of the holy angels being sent on various mis- 
sions to our world, and there is not an instance of 
hesitation, delay, or failure on their part in doing 
the will of God. In the weakest day that Jesus 
saw on the earth, he declared that he could then 
pray to his Father, who would send twelve legions 
of angels to his assistance. By the power of angels 
he could have swept the earth in an instant of time 
of all its inhabitants. The angel who rolled away 
the stone from his tomb could have brought blind- 
ness or death upon all Jerusalem. 

The chief doctrine taught in this parable is that 
while men may not judge and destroy one another, 
yet God watches the good and the bad with an ex- 
act providence, referring the deeds of every day to 
a day of final account. 



The Tares. 69 

Not a sparrow falleth on the ground without the 
notice of God. Even the hairs of our head are all 
numbered. He never changes any view of right or 
wrong. His principles of conduct are as immuta- 
ble as his nature. The end he sees from the begin- 
ning. Light and darkness are the same to God. 
Events are never forgotten or passed by, and in 
his book of remembrance, which records them all, 
there is not a single blot or erasure. All things 
are open and visible to the eyes of Him w T ith whom 
we have to do. While the enemy that sowed the 
tares chose the night for its secrecy to sow them, 
and then went his way imagining that his evil work 
was unknown, yet the All-seeing Eye observed it, 
read the sentence of condemnation for the wicked- 
ness, saw the evil product growing long before the 
servants made the discovery, knew that his own 
seed which he had sown were good, anticipated the 
righteous anger of the servants before it existed, 
prepared an answer to their request, and beheld the 
future harvest — the good saved, the wicked lost. 

To the wicked, the doctrine of a special provi- 
dence that oversees all the affairs of men with ref- 
erence to a general judgment in the future, when 
all the thoughts, words, and deeds of the whole life 
shall be brought into exact and equitable adjudica- 
tion on their merits, must be a fearful apprehension. 
In this view it was no poetic indulgence of the 
apostle when he said, " It is a fearful thing to fall 



70 Our Lord's Parables. 

into the hands of the living God." On the other 
hand, to the righteous there can be no more con- 
soling reflection than the certainty that God sees 
approvingly every step taken of a faithful life. 
While he disclaims all merit for every good deed 
done, and knows that his salvation is of grace, yet 
his heart rejoices in the knowledge that all his work 
is for a Master who never fails to reward the deserv- 
ing. Could w T e believe and realize constantly that 
all our actions come before God for inspection and 
future judgment, how guarded would be our con- 
duct in comparison with our present thoughtless- 
ness. Certainly we show by our frequent forgetful- 
ness of God and our duty that, while we may not 
directly deny the doctrine here stated, it is practi- 
cally ignored. No doubt the wicked fondly hug 
the delusion to their breasts that God is not con- 
cerned about the little affairs of their lives; but 
in this mistake they neither consider the nature of 
God — from which it is plain that he takes cogni- 
zance of all things, and that without reference to 
great and small as these qualities appear to us — nor 
do they heed his word, which declares that he 
searches the thoughts and intents of the heart. 
On the other hand, a Christian, who should live in 
close and daily communion with God, studying his 
nature and his will, should never lose sight of the 
consolation that his very life is hid w T ith Christ in 
God. 



The Tares. 71 

As a matter of reasoning, one of the strongest 
persuasions that there ^vill be a future judgment 
arises from the unsettled state of affairs in this world. 
Remembering that God discriminates between right 
and wrong; that his government is over all his 
creatures ; that he completes all that he undertakes ; 
that in this life he has left men free to choose be- 
tween holiness and sin ; that the whole of life is 
spent frequently by the wicked in successful eva- 
sions of the declared will of Heaven, w r hile the 
righteous as often live and die in poverty and pain, 
without receiving any known reward for their good 
conduct — we are not at liberty to believe that this 
life is the final settlement oT human affairs. All 
nations and peoples, whether civilized or barbarous, 
intelligent or ignorant, Christian or pagan, have 
faith in a judgment beyond this life that amounts 
to a universal persuasion of the fact. But it is 
only from knowledge obtained through the Script- 
ures that we learn certainly the accurate observa- 
tion of God over all human affairs, which he keeps 
in memory with a view to their final settlement ac- 
cording to the strictest equity, moderated by a Fa- 
ther's love. 

The main duty taught in this parable is that we 
are not to separate from the world, but we are to 
remain in it according to the will of God, bearing 
with the fro ward and the wicked, and seeking to do 
good to all men. 



8 



72 Our Lord's Parables. 

Oar Saviour never shunned a company of bad 
men. He prayed and wept over Jerusalem when 
the chief authorities were planning to take his life. 
He opened the eyes of the blind and unstopped the 
ears of the deaf without asking whether the per- 
sons were saints or sinners. He loved his friends 
and forgave his enemies. As we are describing 
one of the imitable perfections of Christ, let us all 
follow the bright example. 

Example is the best teacher. In a certain town an 
infidel had successfully silenced all opposition to his 
sinful errors except with one poor shoe-maker. This 
man had no learning, but he was full of the grace 
of God. Again and again the wily and learned 
infidel plied him with sophistries attacking the 
Christian religion. The constant and only answer 
of the shoe-maker was, " I know that the love of 
God is shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Spirit." 
Watching his daily conduct, the infidel saw that 
this man governed his life by kindness in his fam- 
ily, industry to support them, charity toward all 
his neighbors, and every virtue that our holy relig- 
ion inculcates. After spending several years in 
fruitless efforts to move the fidelity of the poor 
man, one day in an experience-meeting at church, 
to the surprise of all, the infidel arose and said : " I 
am a convert to Christianity. My change is not 
caused by any persuasion of truth gathered from 
the pulpit or from books. I could have lived and 



The Tares. 73 

died an infidel if it had not been for one man. My 
neighbor, the shoe-maker, sitting yonder is the man 
who has rescued me from the bottomless pit. His 
constant and uniform testimony that the grace of 
God had saved him, and his daily walk and conver- 
sation, which I have observed for years, have forced 
me to acknowledge that there is a divine reality in 
his religion. Henceforth his God shall be my God, 
and his people my people." 

All separation from the world with a view to ex- 
traordinary purity is sinful, and unauthorized by 
the word of God, although it may be attended with 
vows, and ceremonies, and strange vestments, and 
an order having a holy name. We are to serve 
every man, woman, and child within our reach, 
standing ready at all times to help those to whom 
we do not have daily access as opportunity may 
give us the privilege ; and we are constantly to en- 
gage in sending messages of love to the ends of the 
earth in the name of Jesus. This cannot be done 
if we inclose ourselves in monastic walls. It can- 
not be well done if we, in a spirit of bigotry, so 
love and laud our own Church as to suppose that 
salvation is found exclusively within its pale. It 
cannot be well done if we exclude the large lib- 
erality of the gospel of Christ by attaching salva- 
tion to a mode, or by making a mode the test of 
Christian communion or Church-fellowship. It can- 
not be well done under the belief that God has 



74 Our Lord's Parables. 

from eternity chosen certain persons to salvation by 
name and number, irrespective of good works, and 
by the same decree consigned the rest of mankind 
by name and number to the pains of eternal death. 
It cannot be well done by ignoring the work of 
the Holy Spirit in conviction, regeneration, and 
sanctification, by supposing that ability and merit 
are found in our own works to save our souls. 

Like our Master, we must live with sinners and 
labor with sinners. No separation can take place 
until we reach heaven. The tares and the wheat 
must grow together, and the final disposal of the 
two will be made when the angels come and gather 
the tares in bundles for destruction, transplanting 
the wheat into the garners of the heavenly world. 
Duty now and duty discharged with sinners, how- 
ever painful or prolonged, and however ill received, 
must be done in this pilgrimage. 



The Barren Fig-tree. 

"A certain man had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard ; 
and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. 
Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, 
these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and 
find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? 
And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this 
year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it ; and if it 
bear fruit, well ; and if not, then after that thou shalt cut 
it down." Luke xiii. 6-9. 

PUNISHMENT is not always proof of guilt. 
Certain Galileans who may have been guilty, 
or who may have been innocent, under the order of 
Pilate, had their blood taken from them, which was 
mingled with the sacrifices. This was done in the 
temple itself. Possibly the Jews brought the story to 
Jesus to see what he would say about the Galileans, 
whom they despised. It was a lamentable tale to be 
repeated in the ears of those who had many friends 
in Galilee. The Master received the account and, 
without denying it, offset it with another story of 
eighteen persons who lost their lives by the falling 
of a tower in Siloam. The question raised in both 
stories was, whether punishment was proof of guilt. 
The decision of Christ was that suffering may fall 
upon the guilty or innocent; but in either event 

(75) 



76 Our Lord's Parables. 

those who suffer are not sinners above all others, 
but that the accusers then before him were sinners, 
and w 7 ith an extraordinary emphasis he proclaimed 
to them, " Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise 
perish." Kepentance lies at the beginning and 
foundation of all true religion, and is an indispen- 
sable prerequisite; and if these religionists standing 
before him had omitted true repentance, it w T ould 
avail them nothing to raise questions about Pilate's 
government, but they w T ould as certainly perish if 
they lived and died in that state as it was certain 
that the Galileans had perished under the order of 
Pilate, or that the eighteen named lost their lives 
by the falling of the tower in Siloam. 

From this interview it was easy and appropriate 
to introduce before the retailers of news and super- 
ficial professors of religion the parable of the barren 
fig-tree. Whether applied to their nation or them- 
selves, or any formal Church or individual member, 
a fig-tree, planted, cultivated, full of leaves and 
limbs and vitality, and yet barren year after year, 
would be an exact likeness. 

As usual we begin with the figures employed. 

A certain man — God. Here we have God as Cre- 
ator and Owner of all things. The history is begun 
and continued maintaining his rights as absolute 
and unlimited. He planted a fig-tree, and it be- 
came his own. His right was the more undoubted 
because it was planted in his vineyard. The dress- 



The Barren Fig-tree. 77 

er of the vineyard was his dresser, and he appointed 
him to cultivate this tree as his own work. The 
time belonged to him, and he gave abundance of it 
to allow the fig-tree to grow. The fruit when ripe 
and gathered would be his own, as he owned all 
that was necessary in producing the fruit. So God 
appears here as Creator and absolute Owner. 

The rebellion of the heart of man is greater in 
opposing absolute ownership on the part of God 
than in any other thing. Many men would be re- 
ligious if they could have a division of honor and 
merit between themselves and God in their salva- 
tion. If God would furnish all the means and give 
all the knowledge and power necessary to a re- 
ligious life — which he does furnish of necessity and 
grace in every instance — and then reward the poor 
dependent with pay and praise for every good thing 
done by him, the heart would at once be flattered 
by receiving such a religion. But God is a jealous 
God, and will never divide his honor and glory with 
another. And far better is it for us that these 
should be left with our Heavenly Father. A young 
and inexperienced prodigal may often wish that his 
estate was in his own hands and out of the control 
of a careful and prudent guardian ; but his own de- 
sire granted would soon be his ruin. Our safety is 
in God. Our rebellion against his absolute owner- 
ship in our bodies, property, lives, and eternal in- 
terests, if heeded, would soon work our ruin, as we 



78 Our Lord's Parables. 

would be wholly incompetent to manage such vast 
treasures. 

On human modes of calculation God has the right 
to absolute ownership in man and all his possessions. 
A farmer plows the ground, and he feels that his 
right to the harvest is increased with the seed sown, 
the labor bestowed, the care and watchfulness em- 
ployed, and the grain gathered and placed in the 
garner. A painter does not set much store to the 
canvas when it is first prepared for the pencil, but 
when months and years have passed, and the crea- 
tions of his genius are seen in every line, and mind 
and heart have been exerted to their utmost strength, 
he regards the work as his own and of incalculable 
value. A young man spends half a decade in 
learning a profession or a trade, and he justly con- 
siders that he is entitled to pay for his skill as well 
as his labor in all the work of his life. By indus- 
try and economy, when two-score years have passed, 
a man finds himself in possession of an estate suffi- 
cient for the support of his family and himself in 
old age, and he would revolt at the suggestion that 
his title to it was no better than the title of the man 
who had never employed one hour in thought or 
labor for his possessions. And so of all our employ- 
ments — care and labor give an acknowledged right 
to our earnings. 

In a much larger sense has God been employed 
in our happiness and welfare, and is therefore the 



The Barken Fig-tree. 79 

owner of the work of his hands. He is not only 
Creator, equaling the painter who made the canvas 
immortal by his genius, but in the most absolute 
sense he has given us our wiiole being. Far beyond 
the claim of the man who tills the ground is the 
claim of God, as ground, soil, seed, atmosphere, 
sunshine, rain, and every thing necessary to pro- 
duction, came from his hand. 

The kind of nature possessed by every living 
thing is the provision and gift of God. Here the 
Lord is without a rival. In ten thousand times ten 
thousand varieties he has made his creatures to live 
and be happy. The only disturbance of universal 
felicity is caused by sin. No greater or more in- 
teresting study can be pursued by man than to 
learn something of the singular nature of beasts, 
birds, and insects. He will find an immense amount 
of happiness among them in the midst of the short- 
est lives and the greatest dangers. He will find in 
the same species a similarity of nature and disposi- 
tion in every one so nearly alike as to mark well 
the species, and at the same time such contrariety 
when compared with others as at once distinguishes 
them from all the rest. What amazing wisdom 
and power of God are necessary to all these results ! 
With what adoring gratitude should we contem- 
plate all his mercies ! His title to all things is un- 
limited and undisputed. 

A fig-tree — each individual. 



80 Our Lord's Parables. 

If we can raise the figure in our minds from an 
unconscious fig-tree to a conscious and intelligent 
man, and then look first at his surroundings as they 
are given him of the Lord, and again at his oppor- 
tunities and capabilities of improvement and doing 
good, growing out of these surroundings, we shall 
be able to appreciate the teaching in this part of 
the parable. Every man has an influence — some 
limited and some extensive. One can manage only 
one talent well, while another can use five or ten. 
But to the extent of the circle of that influence 
there is a work which each man can do, and no 
other can do for him. For this work, he is respon- 
sible in two worlds — here in the present pilgrimage, 
there in eternity. He finds many days of his life 
wherein sickness, youth, and old age leave him un- 
able to work. An absolute uncertainty exists in 
his own mind as to how many days he may be able 
to do the will of God. Again, he perceives that no 
day ever returns with the second offer of time, and 
that every opportunity to do good is a new one, and 
not an old one repeated. From these considerations 
a sensible and sane man will be impressed with the 
value of the statement, " Now is the accepted time, 
now is the day of salvation." He will stress now. 

Personal responsibility will be felt if we will re- 
member that all the figures in the parable relate to 
the fig-tree — the individual. It was a fig-tree that 
a certain man planted, caring for it specially. It 



The Barren Fig-tree. 81 

-was a planted fig-tree, with labor and care, and not 
one growing wild. He planted the fig-tree in 
his vineyard, and not outside of the inclosure, so 
that it could have all needed and possible protec- 
tion. The soil was selected that was adapted to its 
growth, and well prepared. The planting was done 
at the right time of the year to produce the best 
results. The rain, the atmosphere, and the sun all 
contributed to its welfare. A dresser competent to 
the work was appointed to attend to it during all 
the months of the year, who had no other work to 
do. So in all these particulars do w T e see that the 
fig-tree — the individual — is the one cared for above 
all others, and the one responsible every day. There 
is no intimation in the Scriptures that our Lord 
would not have died as freely for one man had he 
alone descended from Adam, as he has died for the 
millions of his race. There is no intimation in the 
Scriptures that each man is less responsible for the 
conduct of his life because of the vast numbers 
redeemed and appointed to work in the vineyard, 
than if only one were called to do the whole work 
of life. 

The leaves in the figure may be considered as 
part of the fig-tree. They were show T y and preten- 
tious, but being without fruit they were valueless. 
They bedecked and ornamented the fig-tree as if for 
Sunday attire, but that was all. There was no fruit 
— not one fig in the midst of ten thousand leaves. 
6 



82 Our Lord's Parables. 

The Master one day came to a fig-tree, and it is said 
he found nothing thereon but leaves only, and he 
commanded, " Let no fruit grow on thee hencefor- 
ward forever." O how many churches do we enter, 
and how many members do we find who are clothed 
only with leaves ! They are as destitute of inward 
purity and holiness as were our first parents of all 
clothing, except fig-leaves — the very figure now 
under consideration. Look at that pew where fa- 
ther, mother, and children are sitting, clothed in 
purple and fine linen ; but look at the heart, and 
behold a cage of unclean birds ; look at the mind, 
and each one "leans his idiot back on folly's top- 
most twig." A great shade is made by this fig-tree, 
but it only cumbers the ground. A wide range of 
evil influence is exerted by professors of religion 
who bear leaves without fruit ; but it is a savor of 
death unto death. "One sinner destroyeth much 
good." 

The vineyard — the Church. 

In this place the Church represents the whole 
body of religious- communicants, with its Bible, its 
ministers, its altars, and its sacraments. It is the 
Church in its largest sense. Every small congre- 
gation, w T here only two or three are gathered to- 
gether and where worship is conducted, is part of 
the universal Church, and each member stands per- 
sonally identified with all. Citizenship in the 
Church is much larger than citizenship in the State. 



The Barren Fig-tree. 83 

In the Church, there is neither Jew nor Greek ; in 
the State, the lines are fixed and the jurisdiction 
limited. AVe are born into the State without choice 
or privilege ; we choose the Church, and are born 
into God of our own free will and desire. Where 
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 

A decisive proof that the Church is the peculiar 
organization of God in this world is found in the 
fact that, while it lives on the voluntary principle, 
it survives all opposition in all the centuries. The 
motto of holiness, inscribed as the chief motto on 
the banners of the Church, has at all times pro- 
voked the deadly hostility of an unregenerate 
world. Xever have such efforts been made to de- 
stroy any cause as have been made to destroy the 
Church of God. Unless it had been from heaven, 
its destruction had been secured long ago. ]STo hu- 
man institution attempts to stand against formidable 
opposition without calling in help from others and 
securing strength by alliances. But the Church 
moves forward proclaiming "peace on earth, good- 
will toward men/' trusting solely in the protection 
of Heaven, and to-day it is stronger than ever be- 
fore. The Arm Unseen that moves the world must 
be its support. 

Of all organizations known to our race the Church 
is the oldest. It is certain that profane history does 
not pretend to name the beginning of the Church. 
If it could do so, this would be an unanswerable ar- 



84 Our Lord's Parables. 

giiment to prove that the Church is of man and not 
of God. Its origin is before the beginning of reli- 
able human records, and the Bible is the only book 
that contains its history. In the family of Adam 
an altar for worship was erected. Noah was a 
preacher of righteousness, and built an altar to God. 
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had their altars to God 
for themselves, their families, and their dependents. 
Moses officiated in the Church in the wilderness. 
David praised God in the sanctuary with heart and 
lips and instruments. In New Testament times the 
Church was in the wilderness and in the city, in 
the home and in the synagogue. The last book of 
the Bible contains separate addresses to the seven 
churches of Asia. The Church has an ancient, a 
modern, a warlike, and a peaceful history; but 
appearing in all the centuries as the child of 
God. 

We profess a tender affection for all the branches 
of the Church of Christ. While some doctrines are 
unscriptural, and some practices unreasonable, and 
many members bring a reproach on the holy cause, ' 
and preachers can be found who serve for the 
loaves and fishes, yet in them all there are godly 
men and women, and in each division more than 
seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal. 
With most devout and unselfish feelings do we love 
to contemplate this " army of the living God," think- 
ing of each division as it fights the good fight of 



The Barren Fig-tree. 85 

faith," and of each one triumphant in the " swell- 
ings of Jordan/' and meeting and greeting the re- 
deemed of the Lord on the other side, where there 
is no occasion to sing : 

Let party names no more 
The Christian world overspread ; 

Gentile and Jew, and bond and free, 
Are one in Christ their head. 

The dresser — the minister and pastor of the 
Church. 

"Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard " 
— showing that the dresser was called and appointed 
to the work, that by study and experience he was 
qualified for it, and that his relation to the owner 
of the vineyard was most intimate and mutually 
confiding. At once we see the character of the 
ministers of Christ. Like other soldiers, they do 
not go on a warfare at their own charges. God 
appoints and sends, and the Church receives and 
supports. How can they preach except they be 
sent? Are they not embassadors of Christ? Even 
in human governments citizenship makes no one 
an embassador, but an appointment by the chief 
executive and the great seal of the State are neces- 
sary. The Christian minister does not parade his 
parchments on every street as the proof of his call, 
but he points rather to the slain of the Lord under 
his ministry and to those made every whit whole. 
He proclaims life to all men and in all places. He 



86 Our Lord's Parables. 

alone of all men carries an open mission of love to 
every son and daughter of Adam. 

There is not a period recorded in the Scriptures 
in which God did not have holy men in charge of 
his Church. These men have truly been the light 
of the world. To cry aloud and spare not, de- 
nouncing sin and commanding holiness, has been 
their employment. Next to the family relation, 
theirs is the most delicate and responsible known 
among the families of men. Instructing the young, 
comforting the sick, baptizing and giving the holy 
communion to all, and preaching the unsearchable 
riches of Christ, are such duties as lead the min- 
ister to the inner door of the hearts of men. How 
loving, how wise, how prudent should he be ! It was 
amazing love, when God said, "Cut it down," that 
the dresser dared to intercede, and by importunate 
prayer had the life of the fig-tree prolonged one 
entire year. Let us ask and esteem the prayers of 
our ministers. The effectual, fervent prayer of a 
righteous man availeth much. 

It is no wonder that the men of the world regard 
the ministry as a very ineffectual agency to bring 
the nations to know Christ. None of God's ways 
have ever accorded with their imaginary wisdom. 
They are very sure that a better Bible could be 
prepared if the Lord were its author ; and yet none 
of their books, in any one leading feature, can bear 
a comparison. They feel certain that if God had 



The Barren Fig-tree. 87 

intended them as free moral agents, and liable to 
future punishment for disobedience in this life, 
he would have made their duty and their immor- 
tality and a place called hell plainer than they are ; 
but when they try to make a substitute, leaving this 
pilgrimage one of faith and trial, they cannot com- 
pete with the certainty which the Lord has fur- 
nished. They show their own party by the best 
men in it; they judge the Church by its worst men. 
And so they regard the ministry as a feeble organi- 
zation and altogether of the world. But when they 
look at the results of preaching the gospel, without 
civil or military power to support it, and in the 
face of the natural disinclination of men to receive 
it, they will search in vain for some human work 
that has accomplished as much under like circum- 
stances. But by the foolishness of preaching, as 
men esteem it, God has chosen to convert the world. 
Let no one mistake this for foolish preaching, but 
let all ministers be wise as serpents and harmless 
as doves. 

The doctrine of the parable is the long forbear- 
ance of * God connected with the constant demands 
of justice. The forbearance of God makes many 
say, Where is the promise of his coming? Do not 
all things remain as they were from the foundation 
of the world ? The fig-tree was capable of bearing 
fruit when it was first planted, and it was for this 
object alone that it was planted. What a vast 



88 Our Lord's Parables. 

mercy to prolong its days three years, when noth- 
ing but leaves were found in any year ! The infer- 
ence was easily drawn that such forbearance was 
proof of continued forbearance ; and in this ex- 
pectation of indulgence fig-tree and dresser were 
only awakened by the startling demand of justice 
that never slumbers nor sleeps, " Cut it down." 

Men are very inconsistent when they demand in- 
stant punishment for sins committed against them- 
selves, and then complain of God for any delay in 
punishment, and more for any punishment after a 
period of delay, and still more for providing a way 
of pardon for the guilty so as to escape punishment. 
"With men it is first a declaration of war, and then 
instantly following the boom of the cannon and the 
certainty of death. But God is long-suffering and 
full of compassion, and from this men infer that 
justice will sleep forever. In their own govern- 
ment justice must stand with drawn sword to pro- 
tect the good and punish the wicked. But the 
pleasing and illusory thought is indulged that in 
the government of God sin is as safe as holiness, 
and that all will receive the same destiny in eter- 
nity. O infamous cheat of the devil when he said, 
in his first approach to our Federal Head, "Ye 
shall not surely die ! " The flattering belief that 
death is always distant, and eternal death only a 
fiction, leads many a soul to hell. The utmost that 
justice would allow was that after the trial of one 



The Barren Fig-tree. 89 

year if no fruit appeared the whole tree should be 
cut down. And to the impenitent reader of these 
lines we say there is an uncertain last year of mer- 
ciful visitation and waiting in his life to bear fruit, 
after which there will be found no place for repent- 
ance, although he seek it with tears. 

The forbearance of God is long continued when 
we consider in how short a time his will can be 
done as to the main duty of life. The main duty 
of life is found in obedience to this command, " Seek 
ye first the kingdom of God." Be truly religious 
before you eat or sleep. If your father be dead, 
do not wait to bury him before you give your heart 
to Christ; but let the dead bury their dead. Now, 
this initial act of religion can be accomplished in 
an hour; and for that hour God often waits three- 
score years. Is not this truly long-suffering on the 
part of God ? What grievous sins the eyes of our 
Heavenly Father must have beheld in all the years 
of a long pilgrimage, each one pointing to punish- 
ment and death! And yet with true paternal so- 
licitude God waited another and another year to 
see if any fruit would be borne in that wasted life. 

Work to produce fruit is the duty taught in the 
parable. 

Consider the immense evil done by a fig-tree cul- 
tivated three years without fruit. The dresser has 
expended three years of labor on it without profit, 
when he might have been employed in a vineyard 



90 Our Lord's Parables. 

where each tree would bring forth fruit thirty, 
sixty, or a hundred fold. The rain, the sunshine, 
and the atmosphere have been employed in abun- 
dance for the good of this tree without any returns. 
The large and attractive leaves of the tree have 
only furnished a shade to retard the growth of 
other vegetation. The roots of the tree have pene- 
trated the earth and absorbed the soil quite a dis- 
tance, injuring every thing that grows in its neigh- 
borhood. Labor and time and money and place 
are all lost on the unsuccessful attempt to produce 
only one fig on a tree capable of bearing for three 
years. All this train of thought applies with force 
to the ungodly. By word and by example they 
have done evil, and that continually. Hundreds 
of sermons have been preached at their hearts, all 
missing their aim. Living forty -nine years, the 
sinner has had seven years of Sabbaths — a period 
of time sufficiently long to learn any trade or pro- 
fession. In good influences he has not produced 
one fig. Often has the stern voice of justice cried, 
"Cut him down!" but the tender and pleading 
voice of mercy prevailed, and he was spared an- 
other year. 

"Son, go work to-day in my vineyard." The 
words are kind and authoritative. To-day can never 
mean to-morrow. Care and work enough will to- 
morrow have when it comes; and sufficient unto 
the day is the evil thereof. No one can ever re- 



The Barren Fig-tree. 91 

cover the loss who has lost a day. It is an unjust 
imposition on the future to expect it to carry the 
load of the past. 

Any work is easier done at the time when it 
should be performed than at any after time. One 
of the most unfortunate habits of life into which 
many people fall is the habit of delay in beginning 
at once to do the work of the day. The thoughts 
concerning it, and the apprehension of labor and 
fatigue, at least equal the trouble of the perform- 
ance with one who begins in earnest and continues 
until the work is done. We strongly advise all 
young people to form the habit in early life of en- 
tering upon every duty without a moment's hesita- 
tion, whether it be temporal or spiritual work ; and 
in securing the certain salvation of the soul, let no 
hinderance prevent a full and immediate accept- 
ance of Christ. 

In human affairs, all compensation is determined 
by the amount and quality of labor done. Why 
should this principle be regarded as strange in the 
government of God? If a man shall say he has 
faith when he is destitute of works, his avowal is 
disproved by his life. A good tree will bring forth 
good fruit. One who has tasted that the Lord is 
good will desire that others should be partakers of 
the same blessing. The merit of works and works 
as a test of faithfulness are very different things. 
All merit is in Christ ; all loyalty is shown in doing 



92 Our Lord's Parables. 

his will. We should even strive to do his will on 
earth as it is done in heaven, with like love and 
constancy. 

My drowsy powers, why sleep ye so? 

Awake, my sluggish soul ! 
Nothing has half thy work to do, 

Yet nothing 's half so dull. 



THE DISCOVERIES OF SIN. 



" Be sure your sin will find you out." Num. xxxii. 23. 

NO greater difficulty is found in the pulpit than 
to make the hearers feel that they are the 
guilty ones alluded to in the sermon. No little 
stratagem is necessary to make David feel, even 
under Nathan, "Thou art the man." A direct ap- 
proach is often a failure because it is resisted; an 
indirect because it is misapplied. We are apt to 
believe that we know our neighbor's sins better than 
our own. 

The text is personal, and the sermon must be 
likewise. If any one transfers it to his neighbor, 
the influence is lost. A man said to us once: "I 
liked your sermon to-day ; it was so general" We 
intended it for him, and we felt ashamed of the 
result. Preaching at Kockcastle Springs a very 
practical sermon, several hearers approached us 
after service and asked if we meant a certain man, 
a stranger, whom we barely knew. We really 
meant the inquirers. 

We are all enough alike in our native depravity 
and sinful acts to be portrayed in this faithful text. 

(93) 



94 The Discoveries of Sin. 

As in water face answereth to face, so the heart 
of man to man. Sin never changes. It begins in 
guilt, and ends in death. The word of God is a 
bright and truthful mirror for beholding ourselves, 
and all its virtues will be lost if w T e keep turning 
it on others so as to behold only them. Let us not 
hesitate to-day to look at the picture as being like 
ourselves, and then when we leave this house let us 
not straightway forget what manner of men w T e are. 
Be certain that your sin will find you out if it con- 
tinues, and that your own forgetfulness or transfer 
will not conceal your guilt or lessen the danger. 

1. It is your sin. 

Every one loves his own wrong-doing, and can 
see but little harm in it. His own evil ways soon 
become his easily besetting sin. His love for his 
own evil course is shown in the great number of 
times that he repeats the same things. The old 
sinner's eye brightens as he looks back on the sin- 
ful days of early life, and he wishes he w<ere young 
again that he might renew its pleasures. It was a 
long course of voluntary sin before the prodigal 
could be brought to say, "I have sinned against 
heaven, and in thy sight." And so of David, when 
he w r as at last compelled to say, "Against thee, thee 
only, have I sinned." 

Each sin is popular, and has a large following. 
There are abundance of tastes for every sin. Noth- 
ing is learned so rapidly as to sin, and nothing is 



The Discoveries of Sin. 95 

seized upon with such avidity. A whistle brings 
the sinners together on the street — no argument or 
persuasion necessary. Satan has neither a Bible 
for instruction, a house for worship, sermons for 
conviction, hymns for praise, nor prayers for help. 
His cause is readily espoused without such aids. 

The guilt of sin is found in its voluntary char- 
acter. No decree or necessity of nature compels a 
man to sin. We are not to lay our sins either upon 
Adam or our neighbor, as they are our own. Adam 
blamed the woman, and the woman the serpent, 
and the serpent would have sought to transfer the 
guilt if he could have found another, so prone are 
we to deny our guilt and to blame others. We sin 
only as far as we choose to sin. We desist as soon 
as we are willing to desist. Even Satan cannot 
drive us beyond our choice. It is all a mistake 
that sinful habits are so confirmed that they cannot 
be broken. The inebriate who ceases to drink for 
a week or a month gives plain proof that he could 
desist longer if he would. It is our own sin that 
we roll under our tongue as a sweet morsel. If it 
were another's, we would not love it so well. It is 
so eminently our own sin that God holds us respon- 
sible for all the deeds done in the body, as if we 
alone had received the benefits of Christ's death. 
No thought more affecting than this : Christ would 
have died for me alone. Then for my sin committed 
against such a Saviour I am properly punished. 



96 The Discoveries of Sin. 

What a picture of a misspent life to think that a 
man has lived all his days in willing sins of his 
own in violation of the laws of God and man, risk- 
ing eternal punishment contrary to the teachings 
of his own conscience and judgment, liable to lose 
heaven, without any hope of reward, to the injury 
of all his powers, and when virtue, religion, peace, 
reward, joy, and eternal life were offered to him on 
the easy condition that he would depart from in- 
iquity, cease to do evil, and learn to do well ! 

2. Your sin will find you out. 

Our secret sins — and how much more our public 
sins ! — are in the light of God's countenance, and he 
cannot look upon sin with allowance or approba- 
tion ; hence, seen by him they will be known. He 
records them, and his book never changes. But 
they are soon brought to the light where others see 
them. Adam and Cain were the first sinners, and 
their deeds were not hidden for a day. So of David 
before Nathan, of Ananias and Sapphira, of Simon 
the sorcerer, and of Judas Iscariot. Often they are 
known before we are aware of the detection. Many 
a man walks the streets supposing that his true 
character of guilt is unknown to trie town, and at 
the same time even the children know his evil man- 
ner of life. 

All men are willing that the sins of others should 
be known, and they help to discover them. In- 
deed, the w T hole world is full of sin -discoverers. 



The Discoveries of Six. 97 

The subject is in the conversation of every day ; it 
fills a large space in every newspaper, it is heard 
in every pulpit, and every court-house and jail 
points out the detected victims. Those who break 
the laws of the land are surprised every day at 
their sudden and unexpected arrest. The testimony 
on the trial of an offender is often as thrilling as a 
romance in its incidents of search and discovery. 
The police, enemies, accomplices, confessions, change 
of circumstances, and even small hints, lead to the 
detection. One day Mr. Webster remarked in a 
famous prosecution, "A thousand eyes are turned 
every way to discover the crime, and the secret is 
nowhere safe." Six years 7 experience as common- 
wealth's attorney convinced us that no crime was 
ever planned and executed well in all its parts. It 
is certain that your sins will find you out, from the 
fact that no confidence and but little sympathy 
exists between sinners. They not only betray but 
they fleece each other all the time. The greater 
part of the gains of sinners — such as gamblers, 
whisky-venders, and others — are made out of other 
sinners. All classes of sinners are unreliable. If a 
spark of better nature exists, it informs on the worse 
nature, and strives to rise above a state of guilt. 

A sinner's appearance tells the tale. That young 
man's blood-shot eyes, red nose, thick tongue, and 
trembling hand show that he has been a frequent 
visitor to the bottle. What a life of misery is be- 



98 The Discoveries of Sin. 

fore her if some nice young lady should become 
his wife! The appearance of a theater-going and 
dancing woman shows that she is enervated and 
unfit for domestic life. A sinner's words, as they 
pass from his mouth, show that he is a sinner. 
There is something in the face of an extortioner or 
a miser that shows his wickedness. On the other 
hand, virtue shines out in the face of the good. A 
halo of glory is around his charities. True religion 
seeks no hiding-place for its deeds, nor yet the up- 
permost seat at feasts to attract attention ; its deeds 
are its praises; it goes about doing good, and its 
reward is on high. But vice seeks concealment, 
tries to cover its shame, and denies its guilt. 

3. The consequences of your sin. 

All sinners prefer darkness to light for their 
deeds, because they are evil. The fact that secrecy 
is sought for sins and the hiding and denial of them 
prove the universal conviction that they are wrong. 
No one advocates sin as a thing per se right as he 
understands sin. Not a book written, not a theory 
started in its favor ; and yet the world is full of it. 
The cause, the heart deceitful above all things. So 
deceitful is it that the result is seen in the fact that 
the devil is the only one in the universe who gets a 
large and willing following without pay or prom- 
ises. A day's work for bread cannot be done with- 
out pay, but a month's debauch is no uncommon 
thing without fee or reward if Satan wills it. 



The Discoveries of Sin. 99 

Sin is an unmixed evil. It never begins, con- 
tinues, or ends in good. As soon as two sins are 
added together, they commence seeking a third, and 
begin their work of injury. Things opposite agree 
to carry out sin. One had bought a piece of ground, 
another five yoke of oxen, and a third had married 
a wife, but each agrees that the other's excuse is 
valid. But the evil consequences soon appear. It 
may be the smallest touch on the body, but the 
evil is perceptible. As there is never any advan- 
tage from sin in this life, w T e must conclude there 
is none beyond. The same God will regard holi- 
ness and sin in eternity as he regards them in time. 
Sins of the body result in diseases of the body, 
sins of the mind in mental disturbances of various 
kinds, and sins of the soul in a decided increase of 
depravity. The wages of sin is death. God pays 
men for sinning in this life only in dying, and w T e 
may be certain that there will be no other pay in 
the next world. 

The main expense of all the governments of the 
world is caused by sin. Wars, murders, arson, 
thefts, and all crimes, are instigated by the devil 
and charged to the tax-payers. The addition of 
taxes to support sin would Christianize the world. 
If it were not for sin, it is probable that the body 
would become healthy, and that the large majority 
of people would die of old age ; but now the conse- 
quences of sin are such that every cemetery marks 



100 The Discoveries of Sin. 

the uncertainty of death, from the youngest infant 
to the oldest man. If it were not for sin, every 
mind would see and know the truth, and every soul 
would love and worship God. 

Each act of sin lasts forever. It can never be 
blotted out, and its evil effects remain. All sin is 
committed in opposition to the love, mercy, and 
goodness of God, and it strikes at every interest of 
society. We arraign sin, and place it on trial to- 
day. It is wrong in theory, in example, in prac- 
tice, in thought, and in word. The injury to body, 
mind, and soul begins with the first act of sinning, 
and increases in time and in eternity, unless the 
cause is taken away and the disease removed. A 
life of sin is without present or future advantage 
either in prospect, promise, or reality. A time ap- 
proaches when there will be no place for repent- 
ance. 

4. The cure for your sin. 

Nature, physical and moral, cannot cure sin. 
All physical remedies are intended only for the 
body. All moral remedies of men fail to reach the 
soul. No one goes to an earthly physician for med- 
icine to cure sin. Even fame, wealth, and pleasure, 
so much coveted by men, are not intended for this 
purpose, and really have a tendency to increase 
and aggravate the disease. It would be strange if 
a cure of any complaint should be found where no 
cure was expected, and where the remedy was evi- 



The Discoveries of Sin. 101 

dently ineffectual. The cure for sin lies in the 
grace of God. The grace of God that bringeth sal- 
vation hath appeared unto all men. One effectual 
cure tendered by one Physician is offered in good 
faith to the whole world. This Physician, Jesus 
Christ, tasted death for every man, and his blood 
received in faith is the cure for sin-sick souls. 

This remedy is offered to-day. Like any remedy 
for the body or mind of man, this may be refused 
and rejected. The penalty for final rejection is the 
death that never dies. The most horrible concep- 
tion of the human mind is that of a man who lives 
here a long life in the guilt and danger of sin, and 
who dies rejecting the cure, and in hell lifts up his 
eyes in undying torment. In our Master's name, 
we beseech you harden not your hearts. Many 
have been cured — indeed, all who have properly 
applied; and this should encourage and embolden 
all to apply to the great Physician. Now is the 
accepted time. 



OUR LORD'S PARABLES, 



The Prodigal and the Self-righteous Son. 

"A certain man had two sons; and the younger of them 
said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that 
falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And 
not many days after the younger son gathered all together, 
and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted 
his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent 
all, there arose a mighty famine in that land ; and he be- 
gan to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a 
citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to 
feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with 
the husks that the swine did eat; and no man gave unto 
him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many 
hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to 
spare, and I perish with hunger ! I will arise and go to 
my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned 
against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy 
to be called thy son ; make me as one of thy hired servants. 
And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was 
yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, 
and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the 
son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, 
and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy 
son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the 
best robe, and put it on him ; and put a ring on his hand, 
(102) 



The Prodigal Son. 103 

and shoes on his feet ; and bring hither the fatted calf, and 
kill it; and let us eat, and be merry; for this my son was 
dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And 
they began to be merry. Xow his elder son was in the 
field; and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard 
music and dancing. And he called one of the servants, 
and asked what these things meant. And he said unto 
him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the 
fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. 
And he was angry, and would not go in; therefore came 
his father out, and entreated him. And he answering said 
to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither 
transgressed I at any time thy commandment; and yet 
thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with 
my friends ; but as soon as this thy son was come, which 
hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for 
him the fatted calf. And he said unto him, Son, thou art 
ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet 
that we should make merry, and be glad; for this thy 
brother was dead, and is alive again ; and was lost, and is 
found." Luke xv. 11-32. 

IN this parable we have four characters to con- 
sider : (1) God in his kindness and forbearance 
to the vilest of men, as seen in the man who had 
two sons; (2) the sinner departing from God, as 
seen in the first part of the history of the prodigal ; 
(3) the sinner repenting of his sins and finding 
mercy with God, as seen in the last part of the 
prodigal's history ; (4) the worldly-minded and self- 
righteous, a? seen in the history of the elder son. 

1. A certain man — God. 

He had two sons, the elder and the younger. 



104 Our Lord's Parables. 

Here we have a clew to the entire subject before us. 
This man had an ample estate, but he had no larger 
family than he could support. If his circumstances 
had been limited and straitened, some pretext for 
wandering on the part of the prodigal might have 
been found in the fear that would naturally arise 
that want might overtake him. How infinite the 
resources of God! When we consider his wealth 
in the whole universe, we are left without doubt 
that he can furnish a heaven for each saint. " In 
my Father's house are many mansions ; were it not 
so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place 
for you." 

As there were two sons in this family, so God 
often shows us his goodness under two things rep- 
resented. In the beginning of the world our Heav- 
enly Father commenced our race with two persons 
— Adam and Eve. The first religious altar had 
two brothers — Cain and Abel. Abraham and Lot 
were two representatives in their day. The Bible 
has two parts — the Old and New Testament. The 
Church has two periods — the Jewish and the Chris- 
tian. It has two sacraments — baptism and the 
Lord's Supper. Two Sabbaths have been furnished 
— the last day of the week under the old economy, 
and the first under the new. Two classes of men 
are in the world — sinners and saints. Two charac- 
ters dwell apart from each other in eternity — the 
lost and the saved. 



The Prodigal Son. 105 

Our Heavenly Father, under the figure of an 
earthly father, here shows us his goodness in three 
ways — in dividing the estate with the sons equally 
and without a day of delay, in letting the younger 
have all and depart without one questioning word 
as to his wisdom in going and using it well, and in 
following him with his love in all his wanderings. 

The personalty of the father was divided equally 
between the sons without any delay. And is not 
this like the dealings of God with all his children? 
He sends the rain on the just and the unjust. He 
opens his hand and satisfies the desire of every liv- 
ing creature. There is never the delay of an hour 
after the want exists. We breathe as soon as we 
are born, for breathing is essential to continued life. 
The sun shines upon vegetation the first day that it 
springs out of the earth. The swallow finds its 
home and its supply of food at the same time. 
There was no inquiry as to the difference in char- 
acter of the two brothers. Subsequent developments 
showed decided differences between the two, but the 
supply to each was the same. God makes a gener- 
al provision for all according to their nature — not 
only to all men, but to all creatures, and that too 
without reference to good or bad qualities. This 
universal supply is not any more the result of his 
unlimited resources than of his infinite goodness. 
Giving does not impoverish God, neither does with- 
holding enrich him; but he delights in giving, and 



106 Our Lord's Parables. 

furnishes to each person on each day enough of 
good things that he could not otherwise obtain to 
fill his whole life with obligation. Four times in 
one Psalm is the language found: "O that men 
would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his 
wonderful works to the children of men!" 

It was more remarkable in the father than the 
gift itself to give his prodigal son one-half of his 
living without a questioning w T ord or a single doubt 
as to the judicious use he would make of it. No 
doubt he had seen painful forebodings of extrava- 
gance and waste in this son when he should have 
the means to gratify their indulgence. If he had 
not seen these symptoms in the young man, the 
very manner of his address to his father might w T ell 
enough excite his apprehensions. The amount 
given had probably cost the father years of labor 
and prudent economy to own so much; yet with 
all these considerations before him, he did not utter 
a word of inquiry or suspicion. He might have 
reminded him of his comfortable and life-long home, 
of the uncertain friendship and fidelity of strangers, 
and of the danger of wild and evil associates ; and 
he might prudently have asked him where he was 
going, what calling he would follow, and what were 
his plans; but, like a trusting father, he did none 
of these things. How like our Heavenly Father ! 

All the gifts of God are made on the supposition 
that we will use them well. In the lap of one man 






The Prodigal Son. 107 

the Lord pours wealth in the most lavish manner. 
He takes it for granted that this man will take care 
of the poor around him, and will send the gospel 
far and near ; and does not for a moment think that 
he will lay up for himself all his wealth as treasures 
upon earth. To another man is given large knowl- 
edge and varied opportunities for its increase ; and 
in no stinted measure is he known to be a man of 
vast information, while around him are the condi- 
tions for exerting an influence possibly world-wide, 
and all without the least suspicion that they will be 
abused. The eye that sees, the ear that hears, the 
tongue that speaks, and the feet that walk are 
given to men in perfection without any questioning 
that they will be used well. The child at its moth- 
er's knee in prayer is expected by the Lord to be 
his follower in the morning of life, and he has made 
no other plan for its conduct in the future. Every 
person and every creature is given its own nature 
in perfection without a doubt expressed or implied 
that its sphere will be well filled. 

The sequel shows plainly that the love of the 
father had followed the son while at home, on leav- 
ing home, in every haunt of sin, and in returning 
to the place where his duty and happiness were to 
be found. Months and years while the prodigal 
was gone this love might have remained in his own 
breast without one expressive word, but as soon as 
the son was in sight neither his guilt, nor his pov- 



108 Our Lord's Parables. 

erty, nor his rags, nor his bare feet, kept the over- 
whelming love of the father from manifesting itself. 
No amount of anger or opposition on the part of 
the elder son could stop the expression of joy which 
the father felt for a single hour. He only remem- 
bered "my son was dead, and is alive; he w T as lost, 
and is found." 

It was only a murmur that' was the immediate 
occasion of this parable. In a sly and insinuating 
manner the scribes and Pharisees attempted to lessen 
the influence of our Saviour when they had searched 
in vain for any act of his life or w T ord of his lips 
that was wrong, by whispering to his prejudice as 
they were making a show of their piety, "This 
man receiveth sinners and eateth with them," 
which was to his praise and not to his dispraise. 
Then followed the parable of the lost sheep, the 
lost piece of silver, and the prodigal son, and as 
underlying them all the heaven -born utterance, 
"There is joy in heaven in the presence of the an- 
gels of God over one sinner that repented." The 
first hour in the life of any man when joy in heaven 
is recorded in his favor is the hour of his repent- 
ance. Only one repenting sinner will produce this 
joy. So it is not surprising that one returning and 
repenting prodigal should reanimate the heart of 
his father with all his former love and solicitude. 
God desires to hasten the restoration of every sinful 
soul who seeks his face, by taking him at once into 






The Prodigal Son. 109 

his Church, giving back his home and his posses- 
sions, clothing him with the righteousness of faith 
in Christ, and giving him to eat of that bread of 
which if a man eat he shall never hunger. 

Notice one fact carefully. The prodigal was born 
a son, and not a stranger or alien. While he in- 
herited his father's physical and moral nature, 
which embraced, as the sequel showed, the power 
to sin, yet he was born at home, a son entitled to 
an estate, protected and beloved. The redemption 
in Christ Jesus removes the natural forfeiture un- 
der Adam. Children dying before overt acts of 
sin are all saved through Christ, and although de- 
pravity attaches to their nature, they are as well 
prepared for heaven as an adult after regeneration. 
The highest state of Christian perfection is not a 
state of grace beyond the condition of an infant by 
virtue of the atonement of Christ. And if thirty- 
three years be the average of human life, we may 
rejoice that probably one-fourth of that period is 
protected by the blood of Jesus ; so that living or 
dying, the young are saved during these years. 

In the order prescribed we notice the prodigal's 
departure from his father, and the sinner's depart- 
ure from God. 

The proposed separation came from the prodigal. 
He desired to leave home, no doubt being tired of 
all advice, restraint, and law. The sinner desires 
to escape from the eye and justice of God, and to 



110 Our Lord's Parables. 

be free without dictation. The father did not pro- 
pose a separation for any cause. He might have 
said: "My son, you are of age and free; go, and 
make your fortune." Or: "You are indolent and 
indifferent to my interest and your duties; go, and 
provide for yourself." Every separation of the 
sinner from the Lord is proposed by the sinner, and 
every step that widens the separation is made by 
him. "God willeth not the death of the sinner, 
but rather that he would turn and live." What- 
ever evil consequences result from the separation 
will lie at the door of the sinner, and will be prop- 
erly chargeable to his account. "Turn ye, turn ye; 
why will ye die?" 

How long time the prodigal had meditated the 
step he was taking we cannot tell. We only know 
that he did not counsel with father, brother, or 
servants. The pleasurable emotions of expected 
liberty and happiness all glowed within his own 
heart. He was living in castles in the air never to 
be occupied. To-morrow and happiness he consid- 
ered inseparable. Freedom and bliss were with 
him synonymous terms. But in due time these se- 
cret meditations found utterance in the presence of 
a confiding and loving father. 

See how abruptly he approached his father with 
the subject of his desires: "Father, give me the 
portion of goods that falleth to me." He does not 
assign any reason for the formal and forward de- 



The Prodigal Son. Ill 

maud, nor does he ask any advice. He wanted the 
goods to gratify his pleasures and his lusts. How 
like every sinner is this example ! The prayer of 
the prodigal is the prayer of the sinner : " Father, 
give me rain in season, an abundant harvest, a good 
market, health in my family, strength and reason 
and long life." And if any of these are withheld 
for a week or a month, the sinner begins to com- 
plain of God. He treats all good as his right, and 
the visitation of all evil as an unjust punishment. 
When his desires are gratified, prosperity only hard- 
ens his heart, and adversity is sent as the last hope 
of imparting wisdom. The prodigal asked neither 
for his brother nor the servants any gift, but de- 
sired all for himself. His selfishness w T as absolute 
and complete. To tear down old barns and build 
new ones for himself, that he may have room to 
bestow his goods, is the aim and delight of every 
sinner. He cannot brook any delay. He must re- 
ceive his part at once. His whole life is passed in 
the anxious inquiry: "What shall I eat, and what 
shall I drink, and wherewithal shall I be clothed?" 
"Not many days after the prodigal gathered all 
together, and took his journey into a far country." 
Procrastination appears only in deciding to obey 
God. To depart from God is simultaneous w T ith 
the first desire to sin. The prodigal was ready to 
go the very hour he made the demand, if he had 
sold all his goods and converted them into money. 



112 Our Lord's Parables. 

But this was a work which required a few days, 
and they were days of eager desire to leave home 
for freedom. He only made preparation to leave, 
and did not seek any advice or ask any parental 
blessing. He did not inquire whether it was best 
to travel east, west, north, or south; but to get 
away was his aim, knowing that every step carried 
him farther from home and restraint and law. How 
like the sinner! Freedom and licentiousness are 
considered synonymous terms, and liberty without 
law is the only kind desired. Many persons sup- 
pose they escape all responsibility to God and his 
Church by remaining in the world and refusing 
to assume Church vows and obligations. This is a 
common and grave mistake. Every man is justly • 
responsible for all the good he could accomplish in 
the Church, and for all the duties incumbent on him 
as laid down in the Scriptures; and a voluntary re- 
fusal to unite with the Church only increases his 
guilt. No man can escape the responsibility of cit- 
izenship to his country by failing or refusing to vote 
or to exercise any of the privileges of a citizen. 

The natural result to the prodigal was that his 
journey into a far country ended in wasting his 
substance in riotous living. He had his desire, but 
the result in every way w T as contrary to his expecta- 
tions. The distance from pleasure to pain on the 
road of sin is a very short one, and the latter is as 
certain as the former. The only happy time of the 



The Prodigal Son. 118 

prodigal was in the conception and commencement 
of his schemes. As certainly as thorns are con- 
cealed beneath the brightest roses, sin is followed 
by punishment in a short time. He made the com- 
mon mistake that a full purse was inexhaustible. 
So the sinner thinks that his wealth and his pleas- 
ures owned to-day will never fail. Every dollar 
spent in riotous living lessened his treasures and in- 
creased his evil habits. The course of his life was 
effecting his ruin in two ways at once — lessening his 
power to provide for himself and increasing his 
appetite for carnal delights. Many a debauchee 
realizes the keenness of desire for his favorite pleas- 
ure as he expends his last farthing in its gratifica- 
tion more than when he began the indulgence with 
many thousands unused. The prodigal wasted his 
very substance in riotous living, and not his small 
change that he could well spare. He gave up all 
his possessions, and with them the opportunity and 
capacity to acquire more. He was too far away 
from home to ask his father for relief, and his body 
and mind were too enervated to work for more than 
a bare subsistence. Many sinners find themselves 
a wreck in body, mind, and soul by the time they 
waste their first fresh powers of capacity to work. 

How different are sinful companions toward one 

who is full and the same person when empty! 

While the prodigal had a full purse and was liberal 

in its extravagance, flatterers and admirers were 

8 



114 Our Lord's Parables. 

around him every day ; but when his substance was 
wasted, he had to seek employment for himself. 
Possibly the one who gave him the first dram would 
be the first to forsake him in an hour of inebriety, 
saying, as he turned away : " Poor fellow ! what a 
pity that he was not more of a man!" As between 
sinners there is no assurance of continued friend- 
ship, but when disastrous changes take place sepa- 
ration is inevitable. The friendship of sinners toward 
each other is of the most uncertain duration, being 
liable to be disturbed by the smallest things, and 
is only secure for an hour when the skies are clear 
and every earthly event propitious. From worldly 
friendship to worldly enmity there is only a step, 
and that taken bitter rancor and hate v fill the soul. 
Here we are inclined to pause and review the 
journey of the prodigal, while we inquire at each 
step, "Why did he wander from home?" When he 
found his confiding father without one questioning 
w T ord willing to divide the estate and give him his 
portion, it seems strange that he did not hesitate to 
take it, and at once resolve to remain. When he 
saw the property disturbed and scattered, and the 
home thrown into confusion by his demand, we 
would have expected that he would relent. The 
anxiety and concern on the faces of the household 
should have softened his heart. When he turned 
for a moment, if he did turn, to look for the last 
time on the dear old homestead, where he was born 



The Prodigal Son. 115 

and reared, and where he had never known a day 
of want, it is wonderful that he could travel any 
farther toward strangers. When he passed the 
boundary line of his father's lands, or when he saw 
the last face that he knew, or when he heard the 
last sound of his native tongue, and began to hear 
a strange dialect that he understood not, w T hy did 
he not on some of these occasions have a better 
mind and come to himself in time? But no; none 
of these things moved him for an hour. And how 
many occurrences in the sinner's pathway of life 
are found strangely insufficient to turn his heart to 
God! He hears unmoved appeals from the word 
of God and from the pulpit to save his soul while 
he may, but he lives on in sin. He buries father, 
mother, wife, or child, and thinks for a moment 
that he will repent; but on the morrow he drinks 
down iniquity as the thirsty ox drinketh water. 
He tries the sinful pleasures of the world until body 
and mind are reduced to the very dregs of capacity, 
and he proposes feebly a reformation ; but evil hab- 
its hold him by a strong and unyielding chain. 
The motives and the opportunities for repentance 
are scattered along the pathway of the sinner's life, 
but he may neglect them all, and die unpardoned 
and without hope. 

In every step sin led the prodigal from bad to 
worse. No improvement is ever made in any step 
taken in sin. Leaving home the prodigal was 



116 Our Lord's Parables. 

found among strangers. From a full purse he soon 
has an empty one ; from congenial companions he 
passed to miserable solitude ; from an easy life to a 
degrading employment; from plenty to hunger; 
from the protection and advice of his father at home 
to the companionship of swine. " The wages of sin 
is death." "Escape for thy life." "Tarry not in 
all the plain." 

The repenting sinner is next seen in the history. 

We now approach a scene of amazing mercy anc 1 
unexpected change. It is wonderful that one as 
low as the prodigal could escape from ruin. Many 
years ago a promising young lawyer in a state of 
semi-inebriation said to us : "I am going voluntarily 
down the declivity of respectability and usefulness, 
and when I reach the foot I will show you how a 
man can rise, in his own strength." We replied: 
" You will never rise in your own strength if you 
go farther." He proceeded, and fell forever. His 
trust was not in God. His own strength w T as very 
weakness. The first thoughts of the prodigal were 
connected with home and his father. At once he 
looked away from himself. 

The first words spoken concerning the prodigal 
w r hen the first good thoughts entered his heart are 
w T orthy of notice. He came to himself. He saw 
men as trees walking ; but it was a great improve- 
ment on blindness to see even those. O what mem- 
ories crowded upon the poor prodigal in a moment ! 



The Prodigal Sox. 117 

Innocence, home, favors, association, advice, prayers, 
wandering, strangers, plenty, want, riotous living, 
all, all in the first view of the past. Memory was 
faithful, but it was laden with anguish. To him- 
self he was a wonder and a great grief of mind. 
One mystery was that he could have fallen so low 
without being aware that he was falling. How 
strong must have been the influence of his lusts 
and the temptations of the devil combined. In all 
that he had ever done himself there was not one 
pleasant thought. He was clothed in tattered gar- 
ments, and his own righteousness appeared as filthy 
rags. He could say, "I the chief of sinners am." 
While all the past stood in a stupefied daze to his 
apprehension, yet he was at the point where " there 
is joy in heaven in the presence of the angels of 
God over one sinner that repenteth." 

Repentance and prayer were in his first thoughts. 

The example here set before the sinner, of ac- 
knowledgment of sin and repentance, is worthy of 
imitation, and is more complete than we generally 
see. He does not excuse himself or make any state- 
ment in his own favor. He looks at his guilt in a 
double view ; he had sinned against heaven, and he 
had sinned in the sight of his father. The law and 
government of heaven he had opposed, in every 
step of his journey and his course, until his sins 
culminated in guilt in his father's sight. He ac- 
knowledged that he had not only forfeited the right 



118 Our Lord's Parables. 

to be the son of his father, but he did not expect to 
be called his son. He sought the place of a servant 
— even a hired servant who worked a day at a time 
and left when the task was completed. He claimed 
no worthiness in all that he purposed to do. He 
framed a prayer of touching tenderness, which he 
would use if he lived to see his father; and with 
this preparation he was ready to go from the scenes 
of his deep misery. 

There was not an hour of procrastination with 
the prodigal. Is it not a wonder that he did not 
take some time to consider the length and danger 
of the journey, his own change of appearance and ap- 
parel, the expenses of the long travel, whether there 
might not be some of his former friends w T ho would 
loan or give him enough to begin again in the world, 
how much his employer owed him, whether he 
could get another to take his place, and many other 
questions that might be considered? It is usual with 
sinners to hesitate a long time before they determine 
to be unreservedly on the Lord's side; and it is but 
seldom that their religious convictions are as deep 
as were those of this poor prodigal. The only easy 
and safe way to accomplish any work is to begin at 
once, and not to sit down dreading the undertaking. 
It is but seldom that a man purposes to be religious at 
a specified future time who keeps the resolution and 
begins at the time. We do not know an instance 
in the New Testament where any person planned 



The Prodigal Sox. 119 

in the morning of the day when he accepted Christ 
that he would accept him on that day. No part of the 
recital is more impressive than the account of the ease 
and success with which the prodigal returned home. 
"And he arose, and came to his father." To make 
his preparations for leaving home, his journey, his 
change of habits and life, his excesses and his beg- 
gary, require a painful recital of follies ; but to re- 
turn to the mercy and forgiveness of the father, the 
will and the deed seem to be simultaneous. Many 
a sinner is surprised to find how near he w T as to 
God, and how soon the Lord was found. He but 
stretched forth a withered hand, and it was made 
whole as the other. Still we must know that the 
prodigal's return home from a far country required 
time and cost labor and fatigue. Doubtless his 
anxiety and fear increased as he approached the 
object of his faith and trust. The adage, "The 
darkest hour is just before day," might be applied 
to him. How his heart w^ould palpitate as he came 
near enough to recognize and remember familiar 
objects! A score of years have fled to eternity 
since he last saw them. He passes a man who was 
his neighbor, and he observes the effect of the 
stealthy tread of time on his frame, and remembers 
many incidents connected with this man, but the 
man knows not the prodigal. His bare feet, his 
rags, his sunken eye, his wasted frame, hide him 
from recognition by all except a father's love. God 



120 Our Lord's Parables. 

alone *sees the first rising emotions of contrition in 
the soul of a penitent sinner. Yonder the prodigal 
beholds the old church where he often heard with- 
out heeding the gracious call of his Heavenly Fa- 
ther to repentance and faith in his Son. How he 
thinks of the dear familiar pew where the family 
sat in the long past, the well-worn Bible from 
which the preacher brought forth treasures new and 
old, the altar where his mother knelt and received 
the broken body and shed blood of her Redeemer 
whom she loved so well, and where the minister 
poured on his head the holy water of baptism ! O 
how painful and yet how sweet are his memories ! 
He crosses now the path made hard " by the feet 
that went up to the worship of God," and he be- 
gins to think of the faithful ones. Soon he passes 
the boundary line, and his foot rests upon his fa- 
ther's soil. Inheritance forfeited, and his heart fails. 
Anon from an eminence he descries the old home- 
stead. When recovered from his emotions a little, 
he exclaims : 

As every prospect rises to my view, 
I seem to live departed years anew. 

How tender and how dreadful the sight before 
him! He sees the very room where his mother 
knelt and prayed for him, asking unutterable bless- 
ings. There remains in the yard the stately elm 
under whose shade he had so often rested. Where 
is his father? He is so near home, and yet so full 



The Peodigal Sox. 121 

of alarm. Are all dead? Will any one receive 
me? I must advance. 

I can but perish if I go, 

I am resolved to try ; 
For if I stay away I know 

I must forever die. 

" But when he was yet a great way off, his father 
saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on 
his neck, and kissed him," Eyes of mercy seeing him 
at a distance, bowels of mercy full of compassion, 
feet of mercy running to meet him, arms of mercy 
falling on his neck, and kisses of mercy removing 
all his sins in one generous forgiveness. So does 
God, by his preventing grace, run before the sinner, 
anticipating his desires and beholding his necessities, 
and out of his un wasting fullness supplying all. 
All this was done for the prodigal, as he stood in 
rags, hungry, feet bare, and not having uttered a 
word of his prayer. O the compassion of God, 
keeping mercy for thousands ! 

Read the account, and you will see that the 
jDrodigal began his prayer but could not reach its 
conclusion, being interrupted by the father's love 
and care in beginning to provide for his wants. 
The most trustworthy servants are called to his 
assistance, the best robe must be put on him, the 
fatted calf must be killed, a ring on his finger and 
shoes on his feet must be provided, and all the peo- 



122 Our Lord's Parables. 

pie called to the rejoicing; for this his son was dead 
and is alive again, he was lost and is found. 

Lastly, the character of the self-righteous is por- 
trayed. 

There may be some praiseworthy qualities found 
ui the elder brother ; but we are not certain of it, 
f we look narrowly into his conduct. He resembles 
v^ery much the self-righteous, who claim their ab- 
staining from known sins and their prudence, which 
is for their own benefit, as their religion. The elder 
brother staid at home, but that may have been a self- 
ish preference. All do not like to travel, and some- 
times penuriousness prevents. A sinner may con- 
sider his own gain in his choice to follow home life. 

In the beginning of the account we see that the 
elder brother was very ready to receive one-half 
of the goods on a division with his brother; but 
whether he ever contributed any labor or means to 
increase the estate, we do not know. It is true that 
he was out in the fields when his brother returned; 
but as the servants were all at the house, we pre- 
sume that it was not the time for work in the fields. 
Probably he was idly strolling about the country. 
How many sinners, and some professing Christians, 
are eager to receive but slow to give ! It would be 
a dangerous experiment for any government to offer 
all men pensions who would accept them, as bank- 
ruptcy would follow immediately ; but it would be 
very safe to offer all the people a place to work 



The Prodigal Sox. 123 

without pay and from a principle of pure patriot- 
ism, as but few would accept the offer. The elder 
son's reflections that his father had not remembered 
him in killing a fatted calf and giving him a merry- 
making time with his friends, shows how his mind 
was running in supreme selfishness on his own 
supplies. We have just read the statement of a 
preacher who professes to believe that baptism is 
for the remission of sins, that he would not baptize 
a person who avowed the intention to join another 
Church. In other words, he would allow a man to 
live with his sins upon him rather than see him 
unite with a Church that was opposed to his views. 
So this elder son would not willingly see his brother 
receive any favors unless he were included in the 
benefit ; but he makes no offer to divide any part 
of the increase of the estate while his brother was 
away, and is not willing that his father shall con- 
tribute to the wants of the prodigal. 

The censures of the elder brother fell upon the 
father as keenly and swiftly as they fell upon the 
wanderer. Men are ready to vindicate themselves 
at all times by denouncing the conduct of others, 
whether that conduct be good or bad. It is the 
easiest of all transfers to shift responsibility to the 
shoulders of another. Here, the elder brother was 
angry and displeased with all around him. His 
younger brother was an object of sympathy and 
compassion; his father blended parental authority 



124 Our Lord's Parables. 

with parental love, and the servants dutifully carried 
the messages of the father to the elder brother ; but 
with indignation he scorned and spurned them all, 
and would not so much as go into the house. How 
often is it that sinners, in rejecting the message and 
the messengers of the Lord, complain of the Lord 
himself in the same breath ! They receive all his 
benefits, and distrust all his providences and grace. 
They cannot understand why God has made them 
liable to sin and death. It seems to them that the 
close of life is soon enough to be religious, and that 
the prime of life should be devoted to business, or 
pleasure, or gain, or fame, or the gratification of all 
sinful lusts. Why religion should be an expensive 
thing is to them a standing mystery and subject 
of complaint. They cannot understand why the 
Churches should ever disagree, or why any of their 
members should show any imperfection, or why any 
duty in the Church should lie at their door, or why 
honesty and morality will not qualify them for 
heaven as well as the grace of God and the blood 
of Jesus. The last discovery that the self-righteous 
will ever make will be to ascertain that they are in 
fault. With many this discovery will only be made 
at the sitting of the great assizes. Even there they 
will say: "Lord, Lord, have w T e not prophesied in 
thy name, and in thy name done many wonderful 
works?" The curtain falls forever, and a voice is 
heard, saying: "I never knew you." 



The Great Supper. 



"And when one of them that sat at meat with him 
heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that 
shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. Then said he 
unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade 
many; and sent his servant at supper-time to say to them 
that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. 
And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The 
first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I 
must needs go and see it; I pray thee have me excused. 
And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I 
go to prove them; I pray thee have me excused. And an- 
other said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot 
come. So that servant came, and showed his lord these 
things. Then the master of the house being angry said to 
his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the 
city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and 
the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it 
is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. 
And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the high- 
ways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my 
house may be filled. For I say unto you, That none of 
those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper." 
Luke xiv. 15-24. 

JESUS was in the house of one of the chief 
Pharisees, an invited guest to eat bread on the 
Sabbath-day. We are not to suppose that he de- 

(125) 



126 Our Lord's Parables. 

sired a feast to be prepared for him, as we have no 
account that grand clinings and other feastings were 
arranged for our Lord, as are too common with his 
followers in the ministry, especially while protracted 
meetings are being held. One of the surest and 
most common means employed by Satan to forestall 
a revival in a protracted meeting is to pamper the 
appetite. 

But this was a rare occasion, when even a Phar- 
isee on the Sabbath-day had a grand feast, and in- 
vited guests of distinction, like the ladies at the 
President's levee, clamored for the first and best 
seats. Having secured the 'Lord's presence at a 
time and place of doubtful propriety, so far as the 
inviters and providers were concerned, they made 
it their chief business to watch him. Their mo- 
tives and conduct were the same as would be dis- 
played by a crowd of sinners on seeing a good man 
unexpectedly enter a theater or ball-room. But 
our Lord turned it all to good account. 

Directly a man with the dropsy stood before Je- 
sus. Categorically he asked the lawyers and Phar- 
isees present, " Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath- 
day?" It is very likely they had brought the sick 
man to the place as a special temptation. The law- 
yers and Pharisees held their peace, and did not an- 
swer the question. They intended to show a tech- 
nical violation of the law if the man should be healed ; 
and yet it was difficult to assert it in the presence 



The Great Supper. 127 

of the feast which they had prepared on the Sab- 
bath-day. They must have had some impression 
that the Lord might heal the man, and to that ex- 
tent they professed a faith for which they were re- 
sponsible. It will be a great responsibility if all 
sinners are held accountable for all the faith that 
they possess. Before their eyes the Lord took the 
man and healed him, and let him go. He sancti- 
fied the house of sin by a work of charity. What 
an excellent example to those who are unexpectedly 
found on forbidden ground ! 

When the healing was done, our Lord entered 
upon a course of lessons to the lawyers and Phar- 
isees. The first was to let them know T that under 
certain circumstances of personal interest any one of 
them would do work on the Sabbath-day. If they 
should have an ass or an ox to fall into a pit, con- 
sidering its value and the necessity for immediate 
relief, they would extricate it at once. Then pass- 
ing from this technical violation of law, he pro- 
ceeded to show them a far greater sin which they 
had on that day committed before his eyes. Each 
one had pressed forward, choosing for himself the 
chief rooms. He preferred himself to his neighbor, 
and did not wait for the owner of the house to as- 
sign him a place. He showed them that pride had 
sent them to the chief rooms, while humility dic- 
tated the lowest rooms on their entering the house. 
Then turning to the man who bid him to the 



128 Our Lord's Parables. 

feast, he showed his sin in a most unexpected light. 
Instead of inviting a company of rich neighbors 
and kinsmen to such a feast, true religion taught 
that he should have called the poor, the maimed, 
the lame, and the blind, who could not recompense 
him with another feast. At the conclusion of these 
unexpected lessons in the presence of a gay and 
proud company, one who was impressed with our 
Lord's teachings observed, " Blessed is he that shall 
eat bread in the kingdom of God." And this re- 
mark drew forth the parable that w T e are now to 
consider. 

It is worthy of note that our Lord did not ad- 
dress the parable to the critical and fault-finding 
crow r d, but to the person who made the remark just 
quoted. He was a hopeful hearer, while they w r ere 
hopeless hearers. There is no profit in casting 
pearls before swine. From this let every minister 
take a judicious hint. It is often the case that 
some one or more of the sinners in the congrega- 
tion should be addressed rather than the whole au- 
dience. The minister may easily show them by 
look and gesture that he is directing his remarks to 
them, and that he is in sympathy with their con- 
victions. 

The parable of the prodigal son and this parable 
begin with the same w T ords — "A certain man." In 
that w T e considered the words as applied to God 
the Father, while here they apply to Jesus the Son 



The Great Supper. 129 

of the Father. There Ave behold the goodness of 
God in his general provisions for his family ; here 
Ave have the work of the Lord our Saviour in all 
his rich furnishing of gospel means and grace. Let 
us consider his labor of love. 

A certain man made a great supper. " Feed my 
sheep, feed my lambs/' said the Master. With the 
Jews the supper was the chief meal; with all, the 
bread furnished by our Lord is the ample and only 
provision for the soul in time and in eternity. Look 
at the large supply. 

In one sacrament Jesus gave his own body, bro- 
ken for us, and his own blood shed for us. Earth 
has no supply that can offer a comparison. What 
an immense change if the man who made the feast 
on the Sabbath-day had not only supplied his guests 
with all pleasant and nutritious food, but had also 
given himself to relieve them from some dreadful 
debt or penalty! This our Eedeemer has done. 
He said of himself: "I am the bread of life; he 
that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that 
believeth on me shall never thirst." He said again : 
" Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and 
drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso 
eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eter- 
nal life ; and I will raise him up at the last day. 
For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink 
indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my 
blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him." This is that 
9 



130 Our Lord's Parables. 

bread which came down from heaven. Hear the 
Master once more: "And as they were eating, Je- 
sus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and 
gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is 
my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, 
and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it ; for 
this is my blood of the new testament, which is 
shed for many for the remission of sins." Read 
the Apostle Paul on the same subject : " For I have 
received of the Lord that which also I delivered 
unto you, That the Lord Jesus, the same night in 
which he was betrayed, took bread ; and w 7 hen he 
had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat ; 
this is my body, which is broken for you; this do 
in remembrance of me. After the same manner 
also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, 
This cup is the new testament in my blood ; this do 
ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 
For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this 
cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come." 
Here is a feast, indeed, in which the Giver has 
given himself for us. The whole humanity of 
Jesus Christ is given for man alone. Mark the 
emphasis with which he declares that the cup is the 
new testament in his blood. Every line of the 
Scriptures and every provision of grace have their 
only merit in the blood of Jesus Christ ; and with- 
out the shedding of blood there is no remission of 
sins. . 



The Great Supper. 131 

But much more than himself is given by our 
Lord in the Great Supper. He has given his word 
to be a lamp to our feet, and a light to our path. 
He has given his Church, in which there are many 
nursing fathers and mothers for the young and the 
weak. He teaches us to pray, "Give us this day 
our daily bread," and a rich supply is sent as surely 
as manna fell in the wilderness. He has given his 
ministers a command to preach the unsearchable 
riches of Christ, and to feed the flock over which 
the Holy Ghost hath made them overseers. 

See how his kindness is enlarged beyond the 
bountiful supper which the Lord hath prepared. 

First, he bid many to the supper. He was 
heard saying : " Come unto me, all ye ends of the 
earth, and be ye saved. Come unto me, all ye that 
labor and are heavy-laden, and I Avill give you 
rest." In shedding his blood and giving his broken 
body for us, as already named, he tasted death for 
every man; he became absolutely no respecter of 
persons. It was intended to be a large affair, where 
love should be manifested to all, and where none 
could complain of any lack in the supply. He gave 
time for all to prepare and come to the supper, 
from the day of the first invitation to the day when 
the feast was ready. Every sinner reading these 
pages has had as much time for repentance as is 
necessary to do any work of life ; and each day he 
has lived under the authoritative command of God 



132 Our Lord's Parables. 

to prepare to-day, and not to wait for the morrow. 
Warnings on the one hand and promises on the 
other have made a wall of motives as high as 
heaven to induce a hearty and ready compliance 
with the invitation. The acceptance of this feast 
has been the prescribed duty of life, and its rejec- 
tion the dangerous sin of life. With all these con- 
siderations before him, each man lives every day in 
the sight of God. 

The double invitation extended to the invited 
shows the large-heartedness of our Lord, and in- 
creases the guilt of the rejecters. In a general 
way on the first day he bid many, and then on 
the day and at the hour when all the preparations 
were complete he sent his servant at supper-time to 
give another invitation, supposing that some might 
forget the hour. Men would be responsible for 
their souls if salvation were offered only through 
the Scriptures; but lest these should not be heeded, 
God sends his servants at the very hour when he 
waits to be gracious — sometimes the minister with 
the preached word, then the Christian in prayers 
offered for the sinner, or in relating his own expe- 
rience, and by the example of his religious life call- 
ing the attention of every one to the value of the 
feast and the danger of delay. A court of justice 
will send only one peremptory summons to a party 
commanding a certain thing to be done months 
hence and on a specified day, and this is sufficient 



The Great Supper. 133 

in law to compel compliance; but the court of 
heaven gives line upon line, and at the last and 
most opportune moment, while the gate of mercy 
is open wide, sends a special invitation to the guilty 
to escape for their life, and enjoy the rich repast 
furnished by their Lord. 

No less remarkable and gracious are the words 
employed in the last invitation — "Come, for all 
things are now ready." The possibility is implied 
in the invitation that in the universe of God there 
may be one not ready, and that one may be the in- 
vited. Ten thousand beings are in sight — some in 
heaven, and some in hell — who have no personal 
interest in the invitation, but they are all read}-. 
Can it be possible that the invited, the favored, the 
called, the redeemed, the beneficiaries of the feast 
for time and for eternity, may not be ready to accept 
the gracious invitation? Yes, it is not only possi- 
ble, but painfully true. Here is matter of amaze- 
ment for three worlds. Every devil in hell is 
ready to oppose the return of the soul to Jesus. 
Every angel in heaven is ready to aid in the re- 
turn, and to show joy in heaven the instant it takes 
place. Every saint, living or dead, is ready to aid 
in the good work of accepting Christ. Every in- 
tercession of the Lord himself shows that he is the 
ready Advocate with the Father. Every sugges,- 
tion of enlightened reason on the part of the in- 
vited urges to instant readiness in accepting the 



134 Our Lord's Parables. 

invitation. Every emotion of conscience pleads 
against a rejection of Christ; and yet the invited 
often refuse, procrastinate, and may be lost. 

The treatment of the invitation by the party 
named is here stated as the treatment of all the in- 
vited who reject Christ, and it stands forth remark- 
able as being a total failure. Even the man who 
said, " Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the king- 
dom of God," and to whom the Lord is speaking, 
has gone no farther toward accepting Christ. What 
intolerably hardened sinners the lawyers and Phar- 
isees then present must have been who had broken 
their own law on the Sabbath-day, hoping that 
Jesus would do the same thing, and all of whom 
maintained a silent rejection of Christ! Once in 
the life of our Lord, certain men besought him to 
depart out of their coasts, and he did so, and so 
far as the history goes he never returned to them. 

Here three of the invited, representing the whole 
class of rejecters, with one consent began to make ex- 
cuse as soon as they heard the last and kindest invita- 
tion. No doubt between the first and the last invi- 
tation they had at various conferences agreed upon 
a certain line of conduct in the way of opposition, 
just as sinners do every day. It is remarkable how 
men having the most conflicting interests can agree 
in opposing religion. Herod and Pilate w T ould 
probably have never made friends if it had not 
been for their joint purpose to destroy Jesus. No 



The Great Supper. 135 

doubt these men were but seldom together, and 
would not have been on that day if it had not been 
for their anxiety to strengthen each other in their 
ojDposition to the supper. One was a land-buyer, 
adding farm to farm; another was a man act- 
ively engaged in business, buying oxen and prov- 
ing them to see if they would work well ; while the 
third was a man of domestic ease and indolence. 
Such variety of employment and disposition proves 
that they were not intimate associates. Their rea- 
sons for not attending the supper are very different, 
yet each can see in the other's excuse a sufficient 
justification. So it is with sinners. Any word 
spoken or act done against the Church and the re- 
ligion of Christ is at once received by every one 
with approval. The heart is deceitful above all 
things, and desperately wicked. 

Observe there is no delay on the part of either 
of the three in preferring their excuse. The devil 
does not allow sinners to parley with the question 
of accepting or rejecting Christ. He knows that 
truth, reason, conscience, interest, and safety are 
all on the side of instant obedience. So by mas- 
terly strategy he avoids procrastination, and in- 
duces the foolish and unwary to refuse outright to 
have the man Christ Jesus to reign over them. If 
they were allowed sufficient time to look at the 
consequences, and ask whether there be any other 
name given under heaven among men whereby 



136 Our Lord's Parables. 

salvation was possible, they might fly to the Re- 
deemer. But on the other hand, Satan persuades 
all who are inclined to be religious to pause and 
take time, and weigh their owm unworthiness, and 
wait until they feel good enough for the Church, and 
be very certain that they are converted and have 
sufficient strength never to fall from grace. In the 
same moment Satan whispers, " Follow me at once, 
but do not follow Christ until many days hence." 

Our Lord teaches all men an important lesson in 
the example of the three rejecters in the parable. 
Each one gave a reason that was true in itself, but 
the question w 7 as one of sufficiency in the sight of 
God, and not of bare truth in the statement. A 
thousand true statements may be made as excuses 
for being irreligious, but until one is found that 
will satisfy the Lord, all are insufficient before the 
Judge. Here it was true that one of the men had 
bought a piece of ground, and another had bought 
five yoke of oxen, and another had married a w T ife, 
but none of these were good reasons for not attend- 
ing the supper. In the first two instances the trades 
were made, and the examination could be postponed 
a day ; and in the last instance the man had married 
a wife, and he was secure in his possession. On the 
very face of the excuses no good reason was given 
for failing to go to the supper ; and so it is with all 
excuses of all sinners. 

The sinner says that he would be religious if all 



The Great Supper. 137 

the Churches were agreed on the teachings of the 
Bible; but he has joined some political party with- 
out waiting for an agreement among politicians — 
indeed, their disagreement increases his partisan 
zeal. He employs a physician when he is sick, 
knowing that all the schools of medicine disagree. 
He goes to law with his neighbor, and contends for 
his supposed rights, while the subject is necessarily 
one of disagreement. He enters a store and buys 
goods for his family, without being certain that he 
is securing the best fabrics. If all Christians were 
agreed on all questions, infidelity and the devil 
would allege that very fact as proof of collusion. 
One alarming feature to the sinner on this subject 
is that all the Churches, even while in a state of 
disagreement, hold that he is wrong and in immi- 
nent danger. Twelve witnesses in court agreeing to 
a fact, when it is known that they are enemies on 
other subjects, give more convincing testimony than 
twelve who were friends, and may have concerted 
together to give the same account. 

The sinner says that religion is a very serious 
matter, and he should take time and be deliberate. 
Yes, it is true that religion is a very serious matter ; 
but is that a just reason on the part of the sinner 
to take time throughout life, thinking and follow- 
ing other pursuits, and banishing all thoughts of 
his own salvation from his mind? His own confes- 
sion proves his sense of responsibility. He does 



138 Our Lord's Parables. 

not ask the same time on any other subject, but 
at once proceeds to act on the best light that he 
has before him. We give only two as specimens 
of all the excuses made by sinners. 

Thus we see that nearly all excuses of sinners for 
being irreligious are true in the statement made, 
but not one is a sufficient justification in the light 
of reason or according to the command of the word 
of God. The man who said to Jesus, " Lord, suffer 
me first to go and bury my father," had apparently 
the best excuse in the Bible. Whether his father 
was then dead and awaiting sepulture, or whether 
he was far advanced in the decline of life and re- 
quired the attention of the son, the result was the 
same. The command, " To-day if ye will hear his 
voice, harden not your hearts," was of paramount 
obligation. If the call of the man was to the min- 
istry, it was of supreme moment. Confessing the 
Lord before men was not in the way of any duty. 
When Elisha w T as plowing in the field, and Elijah 
passed by and cast his mantle upon him, thereby 
calling him to special service, and he lovingly asked 
Elijah to allow him to go and kiss his father and 
mother before he left home, promising obedience 
immediately after his return, he was not allowed 
time to turn out of the w r ay for that purpose. What 
then shall be said of the large numbers who Gal- 
lio-like care for none of these things, or who with 
contemptuous scorn and indifference make light of 



The Great Supper. 139 

all religious duty? Truly they will find that it is 
a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living 
God! 

The doctrine taught in this parable is that the 
provisions of the gospel are large, free, and in- 
tended for all men. 

The thought originates in the selfishness of the 
human heart, and in the knowledge that among 
men there is always respect of persons, that God 
has favorites among mankind, and that he does not 
intend to fill even the righteous with plenty. From 
Adam to Christ, and from Christ to the nineteenth 
century, every dispensation and each generation 
show an enlargement of the mercy and grace of 
God. Xo such thing appears in any age of the 
Church as a withdrawal of powers or opportunities 
given at a former period. In every turn of the 
wheels of time the light from heaven is increased, 
and with the light more grace and mercy are added. 
In olden times God spoke face to face to the few, 
and the few gave the knowledge thus received to 
the many ; but in this day, by his Son and through 
his word, he gives the knowledge of present and 
eternal salvation to all men. Many who were sup- 
posed from their writings to hold the doctrine of 
personal election and reprobation from eternity are 
now employing their best strength in asserting that 
their books never taught the horrible doctrines at- 
tributed to them. 



140 Our Lord's Parables. 

We live in a period of all others the most auspi- 
cious. By long observation and experience cover- 
ing nearly twenty centuries, it is manifest to all 
thinking men that the Church triumphs, whether 
in apparent weakness or in evident strength. There 
is a demonstration in all lands that reaches the door 
of the hearts of the ungodly that the Christian re- 
ligion is no cunningly devised fable, but that it is 
the truth of God. Not one man in a thousand 
finds any thing in this world, apart from the atone- 
ment of Christ, which he seeks as his dying com- 
fort. Perhaps no thought is of such universal ac- 
ceptance in Christendom to-day as the belief that 
Christ died for all men. Looking into every city, 
town, and place, the devil can use only the riffraff 
of the population. Approaching each one the spires 
of the churches pointing toward heaven are the ob- 
jects seen at the greatest distance and the first to 
attract the eye. Entering any cemetery, no names 
are mentioned but Christ and the saints who have 
died. Only a quarter of a century ago our mis- 
sionary, the Rev. Charles Taylor, was the first to 
enter Soochow, China, and he w^ent in disguise; 
but now the gospel is freely preached in that heathen 
city, and colleges and schools are opened in the 
land. What hath God wrought! The fields are 
white unto the harvest. If we who live now could 
live here a century longer, we should behold all the 
w T orld ablaze with the glory of Christ. 



The Great Supper. 141 

As it is true that Jesus tasted death for all men, 
so it is true that he provides for all a royal and 
abundant feast. His gospel is as free as the air 
that we breathe. His grace that bringeth salva- 
tion hath appeared to all men, and is richer than 
the gold of Ophir. Well may we sing : 

Enough for all, enough for each, 
Enough for evermore. 

The duty taught in the parable is instant obedi- 
ence to the commands of Christ, connected with in- 
creased responsibility for disobedience. 

Looking at nature, we see the heavens declaring 
the glory of God and the firmanent showing his 
handiwork. If we reason on the subject, we hear 
a voice saying : " Come now, and let us reason to- 
gether; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall 
be as white as snow." In our depraved hearts we 
are oppressed with the thought, " When we would 
do good, evil is present with us." From our Lord 
the words reach us: "Come unto me; I will give 
you rest." There is laid before our eyes and at the 
door of our hearts the assurance that his blood 
cleanseth from all sin. To insure prompt action, 
we read : " Boast not thyself of to-morrow ; to-day is 
the accepted time." Our winged flight is such that 
a single day makes the distance less to eternity. 
We are startled by the appealing cry from heaven, 
" Why will ye die? " Seeking for light and strength 



142 Our Lord's Parables. 

in a crooked and perverse world, we soon ascertain 
that there is no other name than the name of Jesus 
given under heaven among men for salvation; 
and yet with one consent not only three, but ten 
thousand, make excuse. O how fearful their doom 
if they continue longer in rebellion! O the joy in 
heaven if they now accept Christ! Will the reader 
be one of the ten thousand, or will he exclaim : 

I yield, I yield, 

I can hold out no more ; 

I sink by dying love compelled, 

And own thee conqueror? 



The Good Samarilan. 



"And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted 
him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 
He said unto him, What is written in the law? how read- 
est thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, 
and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind ; and thy 
neighbor as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast an- 
swered right ; this do, and thou shalt live. But he, willing 
to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neigh- 
bor? And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down 
from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which 
stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and de- 
parted, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came 
down a certain priest that way; and when he saw him, he 
passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when 
he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed 
by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he jour- 
neyed, came where he was; and when he saw him, he had 
compassion on him. And went to him, and bound up his 
wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own 
beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 
And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two 
pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take 
care of him ; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I 
come again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three, 
thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among the 
thieves? And he said, He that showed mercy on him. 

(143) 



144 ■ Our Lord's Parables. 

Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise." St. 
Luke x. 25-37. 

A MEAN principle is sometimes the occasion 
of a striking parable of our Lord. He was 
so condescending to the wants of men that he 
would not allow such motives as appeared in this 
instance to deter him from delivering valuable 
truth. A certain lawyer stood up and tempted the 
Lord, asking him, "Master, what shall I do to in- 
herit eternal life?" As he was a lawyer, he was 
probably very adroit in presenting difficult and en- 
tangling questions; and such w T e presume was his 
motive here, w r hich is one far from being commend- 
able. The adroitness of the question is seen in its 
apparently innocent inquiry concerning his own 
duty, and yet capable of being construed when an- 
swered — as attacking the doctrine of grace if an- 
swered in one way, or the duty of good works if 
answered in another. In his frame of mind it 
w T ould have availed nothing to draw distinctions be- 
tween controverted differences among theologians. 
He being a lawyer, Christ referred him to his own 
law, and obliged him to answer. That law went 
far beyond all human codes ; it originated in grace, 
and was completed in good works. The law com- 
manded us to love God with all the heart, soul, 
mind, and strength, and our neighbor as ourself. 
But few were spiritual enough for the first require- 
ment, and the last was almost forgotten in the midst 



The Good Samaritan. 145 

of universal selfishness. When he had truly de- 
clared the law, Jesus said to him, "This do, and 
thou shalt live." Not having done either, and es- 
pecially the latter, and the lawyer being willing to 
justify himself — which is perhaps the first and most 
universal impulse with every man — raised the only 
question that gave him a hope of escape, asking, 
"Who is my neighbor?" Is it the man living on 
an adjoining farm? Is it the one who lives next 
door to me on the street? Is it those who belong 
to my party or my religion? Is it my friend or 
my kindred? Surely it is not my enemy. This 
question, "Who is my neighbor?" brought forth 
the parable before us. 

In the figures employed in this parable we have 
a most important lesson taught that may be over- 
looked. The poor sufferer who fell among thieves 
was found going the wrong way. Perhaps it was 
not intentional on his part to go the wrong way ; 
but ruin will follow as certainly by a travel on the 
wrong road as if the worst designs were harbored 
in the soul. "A certain man went down from Jeru- 
salem to Jericho." He was found going down to 
Jericho ; he was not found going up to Jerusalem. 
From every direction those who went to Jerusalem 
were said to go up to Jerusalem, while those who 
went to Jericho went down to Jericho. Jerusalem 
was the city of the great king. Jerusalem above 
is the mother of us all. We sing : 
10 



146 Our Lord's Parables. 

Jerusalem, my liappy home, 
Name ever dear to me. 

Jerusalem stood much higher than Jericho — the 
latter being six hundred feet lower than the Medi- 
terranean Sea. As the traveler approached Jericho 
he found a desolate and rocky region, fit for thieves 
and robbers, described in the Book of Joshua as 
"the wilderness that goeth up from Jericho." 

Jerusalem was the favorite of God. Here his 
people dwelt, and here was his temple, the house 
of prayer. Jerusalem was full of light. It was 
the city of peace. The very name sounds sweetly. 
Jericho was a profane city, and under a curse. In 
Joshua we read : " Cursed be the man before the 
Lord, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho." 
The evil day in the life of Lot was when Abra- 
ham, giving him choice to possess the right-hand of 
the country, which seemed hilly and unfruitful at 
first sight, or the left-hand, which was level and 
rich and well watered at the beginning, chose the 
left, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. Every 
night when he paused and pitched his tent toward 
Sodom, he was nearer the sinful and doomed city 
than he had been in the morning. Every step that 
the man took toward Jericho carried him farther 
from Jerusalem, where there w T as safety and peace, 
and nearer to Jericho, which was resting under the 
curse of God. Let us apply this thought. When 
Dr. Franklin was a boy, and his friends filled his 



The Good Samaritan. 147 

pockets with pennies and he went forth to enjoy 
the holiday, he found a boy with a whistle. At 
once he offered him all his money for the whistle ; 
but when his friends told him how much more he 
had paid for the whistle than it was worth, and 
how many other things he could have bought with 
his money, he was filled with shame and grief. He 
remembered it in all his after life; and w r hen he 
found a young man for very little consideration go- 
ing into sin, he was accustomed to say, " He is pay- 
ing too dear for the whistle." When Esau desired a 
mess of pottage so much that he gave his birthright 
for it, he was purchasing a heavy load of repentance. 

There is not an eminence so high in all the world 
that a single step is not hazardous if taken in the 
downward direction of sin. The apostolic injunc- 
tion, "Abstain from all appearance of evil," is not 
too strong, and is full of prudence and good sense. 
Every young man who thinks he can sow his wild 
oats and leave off at pleasure is acting as foolishly 
and rashly as one who plays with fire near a maga- 
zine of gunpowder. 

Place and associates have much to do with hu- 
man safety and happiness. What strength it would 
have been to Lot if ten righteous persons had been 
found in Sodom ! But he stood alone ; and the ef- 
fect of evil associations is seen in his course as soon 
as he escaped from danger. The family, and par- 
ticularly his daughters, did not fail to take a sup- 



148 Our Lord's Parables. 

ply of wine with them when they left the city, but 
the religious virtues of Abraham they had lost. 
With the wine Lot was soon and easily made drunk. 
We can almost see he is keeping up the evil prac- 
tices in which he had probably indulged in Sodom. 
Any one sin allowed by a Christian will be more 
clamorous for indulgence the oftener it is repeated. 
The priest who passed by on the other side when 
he saw the unfortunate man who had fallen among 
thieves is supposed to have been a citizen of Jericho. 
This place w r as said to have been head-quarters for 
the priests. Here, aw T ay from Jerusalem, they 
could indulge forbidden pleasures, and so it became 
a motto, "Like priest, like people." Coming from 
a place so wicked as Jericho, it was not strange 
that he had lost the feeling of common humanity 
for a sufferer. Every evil association and practice 
in Jericho would harden his heart. His priestly 
robes were not thick enough to keep out the devil. 
His example was contagious to the Levite. He 
would say: "If the priest refuses to help the poor 
man, I may do the same thing." Exactly the 
same words are used as to the two: "They saw the 
man, and passed by on the other side" — the Levite 
following in the very tracks of the priest. It was 
the office of the Levites to attend the priests in 
their duties. So we see that travel to Jericho is 
much more dangerous than travel to Jerusalem, 
and that Jericho is a dangerous abode for the priest 



The Good Samaritan. 149 

or the people. As a Christian passes a theater, or 
a ball-room, or a saloon, he should hold his breath 
until he escapes ; but if he is passing a church, he 
may sing praises to God. To abide in the evil 
places just named is to venture near the brink of 
the bottomless pit. 

Jericho was twenty-one miles from Jerusalem. 
This distance is far too great for a sinner to take 
in his own strength. He "will fall among thieves 
before the journey is done. Jericho was once called 
the city of palm-trees, but now it is a miserable 
village of only a few houses. Sin has shorn it of its 
glory. Jericho was the first city taken by Joshua 
fourteen hundred and fifty years before Christ, and 
it fell by the will of God through the blowing of 
rams' horns. Its beautiful name — the city of palm- 
trees — and its great age do no not save it from sin 
and the just judgments of God for its wickedness. 
Its history is the history of sin in an individual 
life — beginning in the morning like a city of palm- 
trees, closing in the evening in poverty and filth 
and shame. 

The priest and Levite in the parable represent 
formal professors of religion, who are destitute of 
true godliness. Their religious profession makes 
their crime the greater and more evident than if 
they were common sinners. In the Mosaic law, 
under which the priest was commissioned to act, 
the spirit of kindness to strangers and enemies was 



150 Our Lord's Parables. 

taught : " If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass 
going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to 
him again. If thou see the ass of him that hateth 
thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear 
to help him, thou shalt surely help with him." 
(Ex. xxiii. 4, 5.) So the two were left without ex- 
cuse. It is supposed that the priest framed as an 
excuse for his want of humanity that he was in 
haste to get to Jerusalem to enter upon his course 
of service in the temple; but how much fairer 
would his character have shone before his peers if, 
entering Jerusalem a day after the beginning of 
his term, he had said: "I was detained by hearing 
the groans of a man almost dead whom I found 
along the way, and stopped to bind up his wounds." 

O how can they look up to heaven, 

And ask for mercy there, 
Who never soothed the poor man's pang, 

Nor dried the orphan's tear? 

The sin of the priest was increased by the fact 
that the sufferer was a Jew, and one of his own 
blood. While we are to love our enemies and do 
good to all men, yet certain relations of life in- 
crease our obligations to certain people. Our own 
children justly receive more of our care than the 
children of our neighbors; the true husband will 
love his own wife as he loves himself; the true wife 
will regard her own husband more tenderly than 
she regards all other men ; the true minister cares 



The Good Samaritan. 151 

for the flock of his own feeding more than he cares 
for another. A Jewish priest should have cared 
for a suffering Jew. But his guilt will burn in his 
bones as long as it is known that he left him in the 
hands of a stranger, and one whose nation was an 
enemy of his own, and in a place of great danger, 
while the sufferer was wounded almost to death. 

In considering the conduct of the Samaritan, we 
reach the important doctrine of the text — "Do 
unto others as you would have them do unto you." 
Do good unto all men. 

The Samaritan may be supposed to have national 
and personal antipathy to the wounded Jew. Often 
the former begets the latter, and the two increase 
the hatred. In war, in heated political contests, 
and sometimes in religious differences, the antipathy 
of all the people on either side to the other is trans- 
ferred to the individuals, and is full of rancor. 
The Jews and Samaritans were enemies politically 
and religiously. Theirs was no common or ordi- 
nary hate. To increase the likelihood of this feel- 
ing on the part of this Samaritan, he may have per- 
ceived that the priest and Levite left the wounded 
man to die, and might naturally conclude from 
their conduct that he was either some criminal who 
deserved death or some worthless character who 
was outside the pale of worldly humanity. What 
a noble character he must have possessed to be 
moved by none of these considerations to pass by 



152 Our Lord's Parables. 

the wretched man, but forgetting every thing ex- 
cept that he ivas a man in great distress, stopped to 
relieve him ! The late Avar furnished many noble 
examples on both sides of men who forgot the 
strife in an hour of personal distress, and stooped 
to succor those whom the authorities called mortal 
enemies. A cup of cold water given by a soldier 
to his sick and dying enemy will be remembered in 
heaven when every note of the trump of earthly 
fame has ceased forever. 

As w 7 ell as the priest and Levite, the Samaritan 
might have pleaded the prior claims of the business 
which called him to that section, or he might have 
considered that his time w 7 as too valuable to be lost 
for one whom he did not know ; or he might have 
said: "The thieves have taken all that the man 
possessed, and it is impossible that he should com- 
pensate me for my trouble and expenses ;" or he 
might have feared, when he saw how badly the 
man was w r ounded, that if he once undertook to be 
his friend days or weeks w T ould pass before he could 
give up attention and be free from responsibility; 
or he might have concluded that the state of his 
own purse was inadequate to the present and future 
demands that would be upon it; or he might have 
feared that the thieves were lurking around, and 
would overtake him and treat him as they had 
treated the wounded man; or he might have de- 
termined, as the wounded man was Lis national en- 



The Good Samaritan. 153 

emy, to pass on, trusting that some Jews kinder 
than the priest and Levite would come to his help. 
What a noble man he must have been to be moved 
by none of these suggestions of selfishness! He 
was the Good Samaritan indeed. He resembles 
the Good Shepherd who cares for the sheep, and 
who went after one that was lost in a flock of a 
hundred, leaving the ninety and nine, never rest- 
ing until he found it, and then carrying it home on 
his own shoulders many weary miles. Would the 
writer and the reader have done as the Good Sa- 
maritan did on that day? 

Let us examine his labor of love. 

He had compassion on the wounded man. Here 
is the test of true religion. Compassion was the 
secret spring of his actions. Whoever is born 
of God feels for the suffering. If a man love not 
his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love 
God whom he hath not seen? Jesus so estimates 
good works in the way of kindness to others as to 
regard them as being done to himself. Selfishness 
asks, "How can a man love the millions of idol- 
aters in China whom he has never seen?" The 
answer is because Christ died for every soul in 
China, and each one who has felt the redeeming 
blood of the Lord in his own soul will have a strong 
sympathy for all peoples embraced in the atone- 
ment. 

Every thing that the Samaritan did was done in 



154 Our Lord's Parables. 

the right order of time. He did not first carry the 
sufferer to the inn, and contract shrewdly with the 
inn-keeper for food, medicines, and attention, and 
then when a good bargain was made begin the work 
of relief, but instantly that he had compassion he 
began with all the means in his power to assuage 
his pains. Here is a lesson of great value. We 
are not to wait before we preach Christ to the dying 
until we are educated, and having a large expe- 
rience, and gifts of cultivated oratory, and a loud 
money-call ; but as the soul is needy now, Ave are 
now to proclaim its redemption. We are not to 
postpone religious instruction to our children until 
they are of ripe years and mature understanding, 
as by that time Satan will possess head and heart. 
We are not to withhold a loaf of bread from the 
poor until our barns are full and running over, for 
they may sooner than that event starve to death. 
We may not refuse to send the gospel to the heathen 
as long as there are heathen at home, for this will 
be true until the millennium. 

Behold the number and kind of benefactions of 
the Samaritan. With his ow T n hands, by the way- 
side, and before he knew his name, he bound up 
the wounds of the poor man; then from his own 
supply he poured in oil and wine to mollify the in- 
tense suffering ; by his own strength he sat him on 
his own beast, and took the journey afoot. How 
many miles he thus carried him we do not know; 



The Good Samaritan. 155 

but he did not leave him for a moment until he 
reached a public inn, where he could purchase sup- 
plies and help. When he reached the inn, not re- 
garding his own fatigue, he watched him during 
the night, and did not rely upon careless nurses. 
On the morrow, when the sick man was sufficiently 
relieved to be left, he gave his own money to the 
host, and engaged him to take care of the man. 
He went farther, and assured the host that what- 
soever he spent on the man he would pay on his 
return. He did not limit the inn-keeper as to the 
amount that he should expend on his credit. He 
did not exact from the sufferer a promise that he 
would repay him when he recovered and was able to 
repay. The bare statement of his good deeds virt- 
ually answered the question that was ready to be 
propounded: " Which of the three — priest, Levite 
or Samaritan — was neighbor to the poor man?" 

Spasmodic works of goodness find but little favor 
with God or with men. Reliability is one of the 
best qualities of every performance. The man who 
said, "I go, sir," and went not, received no reward. 
"Whatsoever thy hand findethto do, do it with thy 
might," and continue in the work. A life is sym- 
metrical when it is all alike — never ceasing from 
good works, and never periodically excited by the 
occasion. Sunday Christians who are Monday 
cheats are too numerous. Too many persons join 
in good deeds, if many arc engaged in the same 



156 Our Lord's Parables. 

work, at the same time, and when the performance 
is conspicuous. The Good Samaritan worked alone, 
but his heart and his hands were willing. Very 
many Christians require urging and entreating all 
the time to do their duty. Every Church is com- 
pelled to have officers to collect money, and see that 
specific duties are performed. Probably not one- 
half of the members of any congregation would ever 
voluntarily discharge their plain duty if no appeal 
were made to them. Every Christian should make 
ev T ery man's necessities his own, and see that his 
OAvn face is all the time toward Jerusalem. 

The bitten Israelites looked tow 7 ard the brazen 
serpent to be healed, and not in an opposite direc- 
tion. When Solomon dedicated the temple, he 
knelt down and prayed, spreading forth his hands 
toward heaven for help, and not tow T ard the earth. 
His petition was that prayers offered in that house, 
as well as those offered toward that house, should 
be heard and answered from heaven. "Look unto 
me, and be ye saved," is the direction. Do not 
look away from the Lord expecting life. Each 
step that the prodigal took on his return was to- 
ward home, and not in the direction of a strange 
land. It gives the life of a man fixedness of pur- 
pose when every act is performed looking to Jesus. 
The rope-walker must have a balancing-pole and a 
single object on which he looks, or he will fall. 
The soldier is animated bv certain national em- 



The Good Samaritan. 157 

md s 
others. 



blems and songs which he distinguishes from all 



The Christian lives to Christ alone. 
To Christ alone he dies. 

"No man liveth unto himself/' is the first and 
highest motive of human conduct. What a nar- 
row circle if a man could do no good beyond him- 
self ! The food that he ate and the clothes that he 
wore would be the beginning and the end. How 
like a beast! Jesus went about doing good. This 
so distinguished him from others that it was noted in 
the Gospels as his peculiarity. We should be a 
peculiar people, zealous of good works. To do 
good and to communicate forget not, for with such 
sacrifices God is well pleased. The Good Samar- 
itan was a neighbor to the man who fell among 
thieves, while the priest and Levite were strangers 
and enemies. 

The deeds of the Good Samaritan are given in 
detail by our Lord as being the e very-day work of 
the average Christian. They are not to be read 
and studied as a great and universal Church affair, 
happening once a year and performed only by re- 
markably eminent Christians, but such as belong 
to the work of each one in the Church on any day 
of the year. Can we bear an inspection of our 
hearts and lives in this comparison? 



GOOD WORKS. 



"Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and 
not by faith only." James ii. 24. 

JAMES means to be understood as saying there 
is a proper sense in which a man is justified by 
works and not by faith only. The word "how" in 
the text he emphasizes for this purpose. He is not 
by any means antagonizing the position that at the 
moment when we are born again we are justified 
by faith and have peace with God. His epistle is 
concerning the duties of the Christian life, and not 
the agency or power by which we enter upon that 
life. So far as he names faith it is to show the ab- 
surdity of supposing that a man can discharge all 
the duties of the Christian life by it, without any 
good works of obedience, simply because faith first 
led him to Christ. He was opposing the views of 
those who supposed that God did all our works for 
us and in us, and appointing certain persons from 
eternity to heirship with his Son; and, secondly, 
treating them as passive beings, to work as he gives 
the power. These views will be clearly seen to be 
correct, if we notice some of his illustrations. 

To all Christians he shows that pure and unde- 
(158) 



Good Works. 159 

riled religion consists of visiting the fatherless and 
widows in their affliction. It is not the enjoyment 
of a quiet faith at home while others are destitute 
of daily food. Its daily employment is found in 
good works. It is not so environed with the sover- 
eignty of God that the Christian may go safely 
abroad without danger of falling while he neglects 
to keep himself "unspotted from the world." He 
is urging all to good works of active charity by 
warning Christians that a very vain religion will 
follow an unbridled tongue, although the words 
spoken may be supposed to be true and in vindica- 
tion of the truth, as the heart will be deceived by 
such licentiousness. His condemnation of faith is 
not that kind which trusts Christ for life, and then 
lives to do his will on earth as it is done in heaven ; 
but it is that faith which, in the name of Christ, 
has respect of persons. He condemns that world- 
ly faith which welcomes to the best seat in the 
congregation the man who has a gold ring, but 
says to the poor man in vile raiment, "Sit under 
my footstool ; " and all this without any reference 
to their true moral character. With such the rich 
man had the good seat at Church, while Lazarus 
remained at the door with the dogs. He was ap- 
pealing to Christians to have a faith that would be 
shown by their works. 

The position of James is made clear by his refer- 
ence to Abraham. Possibly it was a score of years aft- 



160 Good Works. 

er Abraham had believed on God, according to Paul 
and James, and his faith was imputed to him for 
righteousness ; and in all these years he had worked 
as God commanded, to prove his faith. A notable 
instance is given in these words : " Was not Abra- 
ham our father justified by works, when he had 
offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou 
how faitli wrought with his works, and by works 
w r as faith made perfect? And the scripture was 
fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and 
it was imputed unto him for righteousness ; and he 
w r as called the Friend of God." So, then, James is 
affirming that a genuine faith as long as it contin- 
ues will always be known by good works, faith and 
works each proving the other, and each indispensa- 
ble in its place. 

Paul uses the term " justified " in relation to faith, 
and James uses the same term in relation to works. 
The term, rightly understood, is appropriate to faith 
and works. Paul is speaking of the hour when the 
sinner first finds acceptance with God ; and in that 
hour of supreme importance to him nothing but 
faith in Christ is realized, and it is true that the 
saved one is "justified by faith without the deeds 
of the law T ." James is speaking of the evil of rest- 
ing upon faith after conversion without good works 
following ; and in that view he can truly say : " Ye 
see then how that by works a man is justified, and 
not by faith only." The term "justified" is a law 



Good Works. 161 

term, and like many law terms has more than one 
meaning, and is to be understood by its contextual 
relation. 

We always have to approach good works cau- 
tiously ; for while the Bible is full of them as our 
daily duty, yet the world is full of error ; and just 
here we find the Antinomian view discarding works 
as of any moment with God who has commanded 
them, and the Pelagian view discarding grace and 
attributing all merit and ability to our own per- 
formances. Keeping in mind that faith in Christ 
is the only thing required of us to secure remission 
of sins, and that good works, without merit at- 
tached as a reward, are the constant proof that saving 
faith rests in the soul, we shall make no mistake 
when we give in detail the place that good works 
hold in the Christian system. Our Articles of Re- 
ligion accord with the Scriptures in the following 
clear view of good works : "Although good works, 
which are the fruits of faith and follow after justifi- 
cation, cannot put away our sins, and endure the 
severity of God's judgment, yet are they pleasing 
and acceptable to God in Christ, and spring out of 
a true and lively faith, insomuch that by them a 
lively faith may be as evidently known as a tree is 
discerned by its fruit.' ' 

The command to work is as extensive and as im- 
perative as the command to pray or to believe on 
Christ. When the Master said, "Son, go work to- 
ll 



162 Good Works. 

day in niy vineyard," and one who was command- 
ed answered, "I will not, and afterward repented 
and w T ent ; " and when he issued the same command 
to another, who said, "I go, sir, and went not" — it 
was found that neither the declaration nor their 
performance affected or changed in the slightest de- 
gree the command to labor that was given to both 
in the same hour of the day. Running along with 
the command, " Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep 
it holy," is the equally urgent command, " Six days 
shalt thou labor." The garden of Eden w r as not 
left until sinning man w-as commanded to labor in 
tilling the ground. Four thousand years after- 
ward an apostle addresses Christians, urging them 
not to be slothful in business, but to be diligent. 
Work seems to be the chief employment of earth ; 
without it there is neither excellence nor rew 7 ard. 
Solomon said : " Seest thou a man diligent in his 
business? he shall stand before kings." It would 
be singular if the Church and the religious life 
should be exempt from the universal provision of 
labor for all that is good. 

There is no condition of life exempt from the ob- 
ligation to do good works. Purity of soul does not 
create such exemption. Jesus was pure by nature 
and by grace inherently and as our representative ; 
and yet he declared of himself: "For the works 
which the Father hath given me to finish, the same 
works that T do, bear witness of me, that the Father 



Good Works. 163 

hath sent me." Afterward he declared to the Jews, 
" The works that I do in my Father's name, they 
bear witness of me." Toward the close of his 
precious life, he said to his Father : " I have finished 
the work which thou gavest me to do." Our Lord 
claimed his works as the proof of his faithfulness. 
Every day he went about doing good. He per- 
formed works of mercy, and not works of ostenta- 
tion. The disciple is not above his Master. Shall 
we sit with folded hands, being all the day idle, and 
crying, "A little more sleep, and a little more slum- 
ber?" Let us arise and build. Paul's triumphant 
words in the view of approaching death were: "I 
have finished my course." 

"Works are commanded by the Master in pro- 
portion to every man's ability : "And unto one he 
gave five talents, to another two, and to another 
one ; to every man according to his several ability." 
What a merciful kindness! If he had given but 
one talent to the servant who could use five, then 
four-fifths of his time and ability would have re- 
mained idle. If he had given five talents or even 
two talents to the man who could only use one, he 
would have been crushed under the exaction. But 
the order of Heaven is: " Require of each no more 
than he is able to do." This evident justice and 
mercy on the part of God will increase the respon- 
sibility of each one to do all that is commanded. 
If he shall lose a day he will never regain it, as 



1G4 Good Works. 

every day has full work of its own. "Sufficient 
unto the day is the evil thereof." The good Sa- 
maritan is a well-drawn picture of good w r orks to 
be performed by every Christian. First he had 
compassion on the poor man who fell among thieves, 
then he bound up his wounds, then he mollified 
them with oil and wine, then by his own strength 
he placed him on his ow T n beast, then he carried 
him to an inn, then he nursed him all night, then 
he paid the host money for him, and then he left 
the landlord to expend more for the man without 
limit, and all without any demand or promise of 
repayment at any time. 

Our works as Christians are prescribed oftener 
for others than for ourself. The labor with ourself 
is to persuade to a hearty and personal acceptance 
of Christ. But as to others the labor is to persuade 
us to love our neighbor as ourself. We will not 
forget our own wants, but w r e may forget those of 
another. Hence the Bible is full of directions to 
work for others. We are to prefer the honor of an- 
other to our own. If two complete the same enter- 
prise, let each give the other the credit. Small 
deeds are more numerous and valuable than great 
ones. A cup of cold w T ater given in the right name 
and with the right motive will not lose its reward. 
Every day we are to pray for all men — for kings 
and for all in authority, for the widow 7 , the orphan, 
and the poor, for our enemies, and for all who de- 



Good Works. 165 

spitefully use us. We may get along by giving the 
Lord one-tenth of our money, but he demands the 
homage of heart and life all the time. We are 
constantly to do good to all men, especially to the 
household of faith. 

No good work is done in our own strength. The 
Holy Spirit is the efficient power, and man is re- 
quired to be a willing co-worker. If we trusted to 
our own strength Ave should find it weakness, and 
even our own motives would be deceptive. We 
always need help froin on high, and we always 
receive it if our good works are seasoned with 
grace. The broad and universal direction of the 
apostle is: "Work out your own salvation with 
fear and trembling ; for it is God which worketh in 
you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." 
Thus we see that works which are approved of God 
are so much under his direction that they necessarily 
partake of a degree of holiness ; and while we do 
not perform them as meritorious, our Heavenly 
Father may reward them as he chooses without 
breaking any law of his kingdom. 

Our Heavenly Father is much more explicit as 
to how he will treat our works after death than 
before death. Perhaps it is because we would all 
our days be subject to vanity in this life, if we knew 
how our Lord was rewarding our faithfulness ; but 
when we die and go hence we will have a better 
mind and a truer appreciation of all that is said 



166 Good Works. 

and done in our behalf. Perhaps the greatest sur- 
prise to the righteous in the heavenly world will be 
the reason given for these words addressed to them : 
" Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the king- 
dom prepared for you from the foundation of the 
world." The reason is that they had been feeding 
Christ when he was hungry, and giving him drink 
when he was thirsty, and furnishing him room and 
lodging when he was a stranger, and clothing him 
when he was destitute, and visiting him when he was 
sick and in prison; and all this was done for the 
Lord by doing the same things to the least Christians. 
Here every good deed of life seems to be freighted 
with blessings on the doer as soon as he enters the 
paradise of God. Just as the Book of God closes we 
read the assuring words: " Blessed are they that do 
his commandments, that they may have right to the 
tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into 
the city." John, in the Gospel, testifies that his com- 
mandment is life everlasting. In the Revelation 
he testifies that the tree of life is near the river of 
life, and bears twelve manner of fruits, yielding her 
fruit every month ; and the leaves of the tree are 
for the healing of the nations. Can we imagine 
the blessedness of receiving such heavenly posses- 
sions for an obedience which is easy and safe to the 
soul in all its terms and requirements? We ought 
to obey God rather than men. "Let us hear the 
conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and 



Good Works. 167 

keep his commandments ; for this is the whole duty 
of man." 

The nature of good works is twofold — first, they 
have their origin and strength in the appointment 
and grace of God; secondly, they live only in 
hearts and lives willing to do the will of God. 

First. Our good works are from God. Paul says 
that the God of peace works in us "that which is 
well -pleasing in his sight through Christ Jesus." 
Then even in our obedience God honors his Son, 
and gives us the chief direction in all that we do. 
Isaiah proclaims this truth hi these words : " Lord, 
thou wilt ordain peace for us; for thou also hast 
wrought all our works in us." The Saviour said: 
"My peace I leave with you." And it is worthy 
of note that in the two scriptures just quoted peace 
is shown to be the fruit of good works. War and 
divisions and error follow every evil way, while 
peace and unity of the Spirit and truth follow good 
works when they are wrought in us by Christ. 

Men never claim any merit in works as procuring 
salvation until they take them away from God and 
undertake their performance by their own wisdom 
and strength. This is done when the direct witness 
of the Holy Spirit on the heart is ignored, and a 
study of the Scriptures, as to sacraments, ordinances, 
modes, times, and design, is set up as the fulfilling of 
the law concerning good works. Our sufficiency is 
of God. He is our strength in weakness and our 



168 Good Works. 

light in darkness. Every prayer that we offer sig- 
nifies that our works need help from on high. Un- 
less God be in our works, and his Holy Spirit gives 
us the blessings desired in our petitions, prayer is a 
most unmeaning ceremony. 

Secondly. All works receiving a reward from 
heaven must come from a willing mind. " What- 
soever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might," 
and do it willingly. The Lord loveth a cheerful 
giver. Remember that we are co-workers with 
God, and on his part he does all for us willingly. 
He asks us to have the same mind that was in 
Christ. He said of himself: " My meat is to do the 
will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." 
In the same cheerful spirit w T e should begin, con- 
tinuej and finish the whole work of our Christian 
pilgrimage. Then we may sing : 

"I have fought my way through, 
I have finished the work thou didst give me to do." 

The necessity for good works is also twofold — 
first, to do the will of God ; secondly, to bless others 
with our benefactions. 

First It is the will of God that our lives should 
be employed in doing good works. To the minister 
he says, " Feed my sheep ; feed my lambs " — Feed 
the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made 
you overseer ; but do not be such an overseer as to 
lord it over God's heritage. If any man would be 
minister let him be the servant of all. To the 



Good Works. 169 

Church he says, "Be kindly affectioned one to an- 
other with brotherly love" — Be given to hospitality, 
distributing to the necessity of saints ; live peacea- 
bly with all men; feed your enemy when he is 
hungry, and give him drink when he is thirsty. 

The will of God is the beginning and end of all 
moral obligation. If reference were had to that 
will when we are tempted to indulge in bad works — 
such as the theater, the dance, the show, the card- 
table, the saloon — we would have a ready solution 
to every question of right and wrong. We would 
find that the will of God was our holiness. To reach 
this state we would find that it was necessary to 
abstain from all appearance of evil. The psalmist 
said : "I delight to do thy will, O my God ; yea, thy 
law is within my heart." Whether the words be ap- 
plied to Christ or himself, they are equally forcible 
and pertinent. From the will of God proceeds the 
law of God; and the law is holy, just, and good. 
Let the will of God be the criterion of every action, 
and Christian perfection will be gained and good 
works will stand as a city set on a hill, seen of all 
beholders. 

Secondly. To bless others with our benefactions 
makes good works a necessity in the Christian life. 
No man liveth unto himself. Why should he, when 
so many are in want? why should he, when the 
heathen world to this day lieth in wickedness? why 
should he, when the poor we have always with us? 



170 Good Works. 

What else than Christian liberality will distribute 
equally and prudently food, clothing, and shelter? 
Sin-cursed as it is, this world may be the garden of 
the Lord by universal benevolence. Christ cared 
for us — let us care for others. 

Thou all our works in us hast wrought, 

Our good is all divine; 
The praise of every virtuous thought 

And righteous word is thine. 



OUR LORD'S PARABLES, 



The Pharisee and Publican. 



"And lie spake this parable unto certain which trusted 
in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 
Two men went up into the temple to pray ; the one a Phar- 
isee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and 
prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not 
as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even 
as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of 
all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, 
would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but 
smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a 
sinner. I tell you this man went down to his house justi- 
fied rather than the other: for every one that exalteth 
himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself 
shall be exalted/' Luke xviii. 9-14. 

TWO persons, a Pharisee and a publican, appear 
in this parable as the representatives of two re- 
ligious views which, are more controverted than any 
known among men. Those who rely upon a literal 
performance of duties and good works for salvation, 
and those who rely entirely upon the grace of God 
as manifested in the mediation of Jesus Christ, are 
represented. The first religious controversy in the 

(171) 



172 Our Lord's Parables. 

world was between two brothers, Cain and Abel, 
ending in murder, and involving the issue here 
stated. Abel brought an offering full of shed 
blood, which looked to the coming of Christ, whose 
blood would cleanse from all sin ; while Cain brought 
the fruit of the ground, and perhaps the very best 
fruit, as an offering unto the Lord. Unto both Cain 
and his offering God had no respect. Without the 
shedding of blood there could be no remission of 
sins. Unto Abel and his offering God had respect. 
In both instances the man and the offering are 
named together, the character of the latter deter- 
mining the fate of the former. Cain's obedience 
was prompt and liberal enough, but it omitted rec- 
onciliation by shed blood and divine grace. He 
trusted in himself that he was righteous. Certain 
persons in the presence of Jesus had the same opin- 
ion of their own goodness and merits, and this false 
theory of justification led the Saviour in his own 
way by parable to set forth the difference between 
these two systems of religious faith. We think the 
introductory statement preceding the parable shows 
clearly that w r e have taken the right view of its 
meaning. And he spake this parable unto certain 
which trusted in themselves; that they were righteous 
and depised others. 

The Pharisee in the parable represents all who 
rely upon good works and obedience to specific com- 
mands for salvation. He is presented as the very 



The Pharisee and Publican. 173 

best of the class. Error begets extremes, and it is 
easy to run back on the line from those who almost 
recognize the necessity of the witness of the Spirit 
and the atonement of Christ to those who believe 
the Universalist theory of the salvation of all men, 
or to those who rely upon morality and honesty. 
Even truth may be carried to extreme conclusions 
and become error. From the true doctrine of a 
general atonement made by our Lord for all men 
and spiritual regeneration, men have proceeded to 
the theory of unconditional election and reproba- 
tion, and to all the absurdities of Antinomianism. 

Our Lord brings forth in detail all the good qual- 
ities of the Pharisee that we may see how many real 
virtues a man may possess in company with such 
sad defects as will leave him in the gall of bitter- 
ness and the bond of iniquity. Let us make a spe- 
cial inspection of his character on the praiseworthy 
side. 

1. In the midst of the errors of the schools and 
the sects it was a virtue to be a Pharisee. The age 
was cultivated and inquisitive, and the human mind 
had a tendency to run into all extremes, foster ev- 
ery variety of speculation, and from these to fill the 
land with error. To preserve the most orthodox 
faith in the midst of a heterodox period was a thing 
not to be despised. The Pharisee believed in God, 
in the inspiration of the Scriptures of the Old Tes- 
tament, and in the resurrection of the dead to be 



174 Our Lord's Parables. 

rewarded or punished according to the deeds done 
in the body. He kept the temple of the Lord, and 
ostensibly he was the true worshiper. Fastings, 
giving of alms, prayers, and attending the sanctu- 
ary w T ere strictly observed. 

2. Some things commendatory may be observed 
of the Pharisee as to his occupation at the time. He 
was found in the house of God, and apparently for 
the purpose of prayer. Here w r as the right place 
to pray, as the Lord had declared that his house 
should be called the house of prayer. The Phari- 
sees had two days in the w T eek set apart for prayer 
— Monday and Thursday — and not one day as the 
Christian Churches have, and this man was attend- 
ing on one of those days. He w 7 as in the temple, 
without the attraction of a minister to address an 
audience w T ith w T ords of eloquence, or a company of 
singers to discourse sweet music, or a congregation 
of well-dressed people for observation and conver- 
sation ; but he w 7 ent alone, entered the house, took 
his place, and in his w T ay performed his routine of 
duties. Here are points of good conduct that will 
make some professors of religion blush, and will 
keep this Pharisee from indiscriminate and whole- 
sale censure and criticism. Let us give him due 
credit for all that he did w T orthy of praise, censur- 
ing him only for his defects, and escaping their im- 
itation. 

3. Let us notice specific acts of character belong- 



The Pharisee and Publican. 175 

ing to this Pharisee. He fasted twice in the week. 
Fasting was a religions duty so well established in 
the days of our Lord that he left it to be observed 
without a specific command, and even answered the 
complaint made against his disciples because they 
did not fast. We have the command of the apos- 
tles in its favor, which forbids any questioning as 
to the duty or the benefits derived from it to our 
spiritual growth. We have known a few persons 
whose physical condition was such that they could 
not fast without producing sickness ; but there are 
not many who cannot fast. Here was a man who 
was only a formal worshiper who fasted twice in the 
week, while many churches do not require or prac- 
tice fasting more than four times a year, appointing 
the day before a quarterly or sacramental meeting 
when the holy communion will be administered. We 
do not doubt that the sacrament of the Lord's Supper 
was observed by the early Christians once a week, 
while now it is only kept monthly or quarterly by 
many churches. 

4. He gave tithes of all that he possessed. One 
of the hardest lessons to teach even Christian men 
is that their goods and themselves belong to the 
Lord. When God allowed his tenants nine-tenths 
of the produce of the field, shop, and office, and 
demanded only one-tenth for the use of his Church, 
he showed a liberality that was surprising to all 
landlords. Not an instance like it can be found in 



176 Our Lord's Parables. 

the annals of any nation. But what do we see as 
the result of this generosity. Giving men so near- 
ly all that is made, and leaving them free to with- 
hold the small part named if they will at their 
peril, finds the great majority inclined to withhold 
and keep all. We doubt whether there is a Christian 
Church in the world to-day that could support it- 
self financially on the voluntary, free-w T ill principle 
of action. Officers, collectors, and pleaders are 
found to be essentially necessary to draw T from re- 
luctant purses the meager contributions which the 
Church realizes for the gospel at home and abroad. 
It is probable that the single and sinful article of 
tobacco alone costs the Church, as a voluntary and 
wicked extravagance, more than all amounts re- 
ceived for the cause of God after all the importu- 
nate entreaties of ministers and official laymen. 
But this Pharisee, of his own free will and accord, 
gave tithes of all that he possessed. 

5. This Pharisee was not an extortioner. While 
this was true as to the Pharisee, he asserts it by 
making a mean reflection on the publican. The 
office of the publican w T as to collect the Roman rev- 
enues, and in it there w T as ample opportunity to be 
guilty of extortion in demanding more taxes than 
were due, and in seizing more property than w r ould 
pay the taxes. This made the publicans specially 
odious to the Jews. The Jews stood to the Roman 
Government very much as the American colonies 



The Pharisee and Publican. 177 

stood to the English Government at the time of our 
declaration of independence, being subject to taxa- 
tion without representation. Having no represen- 
tation in Parliament, it is easy to see how our taxes 
would be increased beyond a due proportion, and 
the collecting officers, having but little sympathy 
with our country and people, would be apt to be 
guilty of extortion. There were many publicans 
in Judea at the time, and the very name was de- 
spised by the Jews. Zaccheus was the chief of the 
publicans, and seemed to suppose that the first sus- 
picion concerning him would be that he was an ex- 
tortioner, and hence he offered to restore to the 
injured fourfold if they could prove him guilty. 
Matthew also was a publican of an inferior grade. 

The wisdom of any government is seen in equality 
of taxation. This is one of the greatest difficulties 
in legislation, and one of the strongest reasons for 
giving every district its own chosen representation. 
Our country, as a rule, has admirably observed this 
equality — taxing property, offices, and the like the 
same in amount ; but no little difficulty is experienced 
in doing exact justice to all sections and interests 
where they are unlike each other in industrial pur- 
suits. The late war caused an enormous increase 
of taxation, and since peace came it has required 
many years to readjust this subject to its normal 
condition. 

But whatever the motive of the Pharisee was to- 
12 



178 Our Lord's Parables. 

ward the publican, it was a good quality to be free 
from extortion. Being probably a rich man and a 
man of influence, he had opportunities to commit 
this sin. O how many men do not hesitate openly 
and boldly to make all the money possible out of 
their own abundance and others' necessities ! How 
few Christians would refuse to join a monopoly to 
buy or sell leading articles of trade so as to increase 
or decrease the price! Man} engage in the late 
style of margins, whereby they become gamblers 
outright. We give this Pharisee credit for being 
no extortioner, and present him as a worthy exam- 
ple superior to many professors of religion who 
suppose that they excel him in all virtues. 

6. Our Pharisee was not unjust. It would be an 
interesting inquiry, if it had any possible solution, 
to ask how many debts would be paid voluntarily 
if all the coercive power of the law to enforce pay- 
ment were removed. We doubt whether twenty- 
five per cent, of all the private and public indebt- 
edness of any country would be paid on this plan. 
Or how many public functionaries would be true 
to their trust if it were not for their oaths of office, 
their fear of punishment for perjury, and the liabil- 
ities of friends as security on their bonds? We 
reach the seat of total depravity in a few short steps 
in the direction indicated. But here was a man 
whose word was his bond, and who could appeal to 
his neighbors in proof that he observed his con- 






The Pharisee and Publican. 179 

tracts without mortgages, collaterals, or indorsers. 
He must have been a model man in his community, 
and no doubt laid the flattering unction to his soul 
that his good works would save him. A long bus- 
iness life, attended with large experience and ob- 
servation, convinces us that a man strictly just from 
principle and not from policy is the exception and 
not the rule. Before this Pharisee is denounced by 
any one, we advise him to retrospect his business life 
with care, and see if it has been marked with com- 
plete justice to all men. Our Church has an excel- 
lent direction to her members : " Not to use many 
words in buying and selling." How few persons 
make exactly the same representation of an article 
as buyer of it and as seller ! Many men take a dif- 
ferent view of collecting the debts due to themselves 
and paying the debts that they owe. To be just, 
candid, sincere, truthful to the letter, are cardinal 
Christian virtues. 

7. He was not an adulterer. The secret history 
that came to light by our Saviour of the guilty men 
who brought the woman to him under the guise of 
great piety indicates that the sin of adultery was 
common in that age. This fact makes the virtuous 
life of this man stand forth brighter and more 
praiseworthy than it would if the entire commu- 
nity had been chaste and innocent. We doubt 
whether any sin is more common than this sin, and 
this remark applies to all countries — civilized and 



180 Our Lord's Parables. 

barbarous, Christian and pagan, and to all times, 
ancient and modern. The laws of God and man 
have not effected its suppression. In our judgment 
only one thing can accomplish this most desirable 
end. The face of society must be set against this 
crime when committed by men with as much ab- 
horrence and detestation as when women are the 
offenders. 

What a number of virtues this Pharisee pos- 
sessed, all to be overshadowed by one fatal mistake ! 
Our first parents made but one mistake, and it pro- 
duced their and our ruin. The foolish virgins made 
only one mistake in not providing oil enough to last 
until midnight, and they were left in darkness. 
Peter made but one mistake when he denied his 
Lord, but the result was that he went and wept bit- 
terly. The rich man only allowed one beggar to 
starve at his gate, "and in hell he lifted up his eyes, 
being in torments." This Pharisee made but one 
mistake, in trusting in himself that he was a justified 
man ; and with this self-complacency he could not 
enter his own door a justified man in the eyes of 
Christ the Judge. He trusted in himself that he 
was righteous. He was actually righteous as he 
supposed in his nature and in his life, and of course 
he was neither depraved in part nor entirely. All 
his works were meritorious and pleasing to con- 
template, and his family connections, Church rela- 
tionship, and natural and cultivated goodness made 



The Pharisee and Publican. 181 

him as he thought one of Heaven's chief favorites. 
But how does the word of God depict the moral 
nature and life of this Pharisee and of every 
other unregenerate man? The imaginations of the 
thoughts of their hearts are evil, and only evil, 
and that continually ; " the carnal mind is enmity 
against God;" "the whole head is sick, and the 
whole heart faint;" "the heart is deceitful above 
all things, and desperately wicked;" "their throat 
is an open sepulcher ; " " with their tongues they 
have used deceit;" "the poison of asps is under 
their lips;" their mouth is full of cursing and bit- 
terness ; " " their feet are swift to shed blood." Such 
is the faithful and fearful picture drawn from the 
Bible of every man before he turns to God and 
lives through his Son. 

Righteousness is the highest moral and spiritual 
excellence found in any heart. It is heaven-born, 
for the Lord " is made unto us righteousness." It is 
not of earth, for " there is none righteous ; no, not 
one." "Our own righteousness is as filthy rags." 
" True righteousness is of faith, for the righteous- 
ness of God is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and 
upon all them that believe." 

What a radical and fundamental mistake this 
Pharisee made in this one particular ! His undue 
estimate of his own virtues sealed his heart against 
holiness and developed a character guilty and even 
pitiable in the extreme. Notice first that he de- 



182 Our Lord's Parables. 

spised others. He not only had a low opinion of 
those who were below T him in social position, or who 
belonged to another sect or party, but he despised 
them with scorn and contempt. His hatred showed 
itself in the house of God, and in his very prayers. 
From thoughts to words his hatred vented itself, 
and took unseemly form. The whole race of pub- 
licans he despised, and he had but to see one to ex- 
press his opinion to God and men evincing extreme 
aversion. Some one has said that we never find 
our friends as good nor our enemies as bad as we 
had supposed. Certainly judging a man by his 
name, or his Church, or his theory, or his party, is 
a very unsafe test of character. The very best and 
greatest men sometimes spring from the most un- 
promising families, while those raised in affluence 
and having every social advantage, with the best re- 
ligious culture, may become the most degraded and 
worthless. Individual character tested by its own 
works is the only safe criterion. 

The defect named not only show r ed in this Phari- 
see a hatred of other men, but it also exhibited in 
his prayers such qualities as marked the man utter- 
ly destitute of pure and undefiled religion. The 
whole manner and bearing of his address is in 
proof. He addresses God with no reverence or so- 
lemnity, but very much as if the Lord were the 
presiding officer of some society appointed to ap- 
plaud his merits. " God, I thank thee," has no more 



The Pharisee and Publican. 183 

meaning than if he had said, "Mr. President." 
The claim of equality of rights with God is almost 
asserted. He claimed the right of private judg- 
ment in his own case as to his moral and religious 
qualities. And there is not an intimation of any- 
possible defect in his own life, or of possible good 
in the life of the publican. 

Again, the necessary qualities of repentance and 
faith are sadly wanting — the first being entirely un- 
known, and the last being only historical and gen- 
eral. He shows no repentance toward God. Being 
free from sin in his own opinion, he has no cause for 
repentance. So much as one misspent day or hour 
of his life, or one mistake or evil deed, is unacknowl- 
edged. His life is one of unclouded prosperity and 
unblurred morality. Such purity made it unneces- 
sary, in his judgment, to have personal and abiding 
faith in Christ. The necessity for a vicarious atone- 
ment for his sins he has never perceived. His God, 
in whom he believes, is really more the God of the 
deist than the Gad of the Christian. 

Here we have the best example of literal and 
exact obedience to duties as the procuring cause for 
the remission of sins that we may hope to find ; and 
yet ignoring the grace of God and the blood of Je- 
sus as the efficient and meritorious cause, we see 
how inadequate is their claim. It would be unjust 
to God and unsafe to our souls to make our obe- 
dience the means of our own salvation. Everv act 



184 Our Lord's Parables. 

of our own we would flatter with the assurance that 
it w T as perfect in mode, intention, and performance, 
while prejudice and predilection may have deter- 
mined us in favor of the wrong mode; self-will 
might be mistaken for purity of intention, and per- 
formance might be under the influence of times and 
seasons until a life of the greatest irregularity would 
follow. 

We now reach a subject as important to sinful 
man as any that he is ever called to consider. How 
is the sinner justified? How may one who is "dead 
in trespasses and sins" live again? How may one 
living without hope and without God in the world 
be assured that he has found restoration to the divine 

favor? „ . , 

How can a sinner know 

His sins on earth forgiven? 

How can my gracious Saviour show 

My name inscribed in heaven? 

The publican will give us the needed information. 
We will find that man is saved by grace through 
faith in Christ. 

We might ask many questions about the publican, 
and from a better motive than idle curiosity. He 
may have had some religious teaching in early life 
that he threw off with manhood, and after running 
a decade or a score of years or more in sin these had 
returned to his conscience and memory with unusual 
power. The memory of a mother's prayers when 
a boy, or her dying injunctions as he reached man- 



The Pharisee and Publican. 185 

hood, may have possessed his soul, producing deep 
contrition. Some late bereavement of his own may 
have been the cause of disturbing his whole moral 
nature with the consciousness of his guilt. Possibly 
he had buried a daughter or a son whom he loved 
as the apple of his eye ; or some visitation of God 
upon the land for its sins may have been before his 
eyes, warning him that it is a fearful thing to fall 
into the hands of the living God. He may have 
been reviewing his own sinful life, and while he was 
amazed and shocked at the number and heinous- 
ness of his crimes, the Spirit of God sealed deep and 
timely conviction in his soul. We do not know 
the immediate cause of his conviction at the tem- 
ple, but we do know that he is introduced to us 
by the Master as being deeply penitent on account 
of his sins, which is the first step toward his re- 
covery. 

We gain insight enough into his condition to be- 
lieve that he was neither in the lowest nor the high- 
est class of society. He had an office and a house. 
A publican was a tax-collector for a certain district, 
and he would not be intrusted with the revenues of 
the government unless he was responsible and reli- 
able. He had a home of his own, as he went down 
to his house justified. So we judge that he was in 
the middle station of life, having neither poverty 
nor riches, but caring for his family and attending 
to his business as an industrious and prudent man. 



186 Our Lord's Parables. 

For the masses of any population this middle state 
is the best for temporal and spiritual welfare. 

The publican was in great agony on account of 
the peril of his soul. He knew that the temple w T as 
the appointed place for prayer, and he went thither. 
But his sense of his unworthiness was so oppressive 
that he was standing afar off from the favorite and 
conspicuous places of the house, and sought to offer 
his prayer in the vestibule or court allotted to the 
Gentiles and the unworthy. His contrition of soul 
became so violent that he did not so much as lift 
up his eyes to heaven. He looked to the dust where 
he expected soon to go, rather than to heaven above 
where he scarcely dared to hope that he might as- 
cend. He smote with his hand upon his guilty 
breast, as representing the depraved heart that he 
was fully conscious of possessing. Here we have all 
the possible manifestations and evidences of a pen- 
itent sinner — humble prayer, conscious guilt and 
shame, and yet daring to approach God in faith. 
Of him it might be said in that moment : " There is 
joy in heaven in the presence of the angels of God 
over one sinner that repenteth." 

His prayer is more conspicuous for its fullness 
than for its brevity. In the fewest words he con- 
denses his request, replete with all that he could 
desire. With awful reverence he called on God, 
speaking his name as if he dreaded to utter it. His 
infinite attributes he does not dare to consider one 



The Pharisee and Publican. 187 

by one. If he should think a moment of his om- 
nipotence, and behold God taking up the isles as a 
very little thing, he would sink beneath the sight. 
He dare not venture to contemplate the omnipres- 
ence of God, so as to behold him literally filling the 
universe with his own fullness. The omniscience 
of God would overawe his soul, if he should be- 
hold him as having all possible wisdom. He tries 
in his own weakness and guilt to approach feebly 
and touch the hem of his garment so that he might 
receive virtue. This he did, and no more ; and thus 
he addressed God in prayer. 

See how this troubled soul regarded himself. 
"Me, a sinner," is the brief and full confession of 
his guilt. He did not think of any nice calculation, 
whether he was born in sin, or became a sinner by 
association or example or preference, or whether 
part of his nature might be exempt from the taint. 
It seemed to him that he was overwhelmed in guilt. 
If he contemplated the extent of his guilt, he would 
exclaim, " I the chief of sinners am ! " No doubt 
he would have acknowledged that from the crown 
of his head to the soles of his feet there were 
"wounds and bruises and putrefying sores." He 
knew that he had a desperate disease, and did not 
seek to hide it. It overwhelmed him to such a de- 
gree that he had not one word of retaliation for the 
proud Pharisee who stood taunting him at the very 
moment. He knew that " they that be whole need 



188 Our Lord's Parables. 

not a physician, but they that are sick;" and he 
believed that there was balm in Gilead and a phy- 
sician there even for his troubled souL 

"Me" embraced all that he prayed for on that 
day. This was an hour when he might withdraw 
his requests from all others than himself. Usually 
in our prayers we are to remember others, but in 
that hour of extreme solicitude, when we seek to 
live and not die, and when we strive to escape from 
the guilt and pollution of sin to regeneration of soul 
and holiness of life, we may confine our petitions to 
a throne of mercy to our own pressing necessities. 
When Peter was sinking he could only plead, " Lord, 
save, or I perish!" When the man was blind his 
petition was, "Lord, that I may receive my sight!" 
When Saul was struck to the earth we hear the ex- 
clamation, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" 
When Stephen was dying his last request was, 
" Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." The special object 
sought by the publican was mercy. It has been 
said that a time will be reached in every man's life 
when mercy will seem to him the darling attribute 
of the Deity. No man may hope for mercy with- 
out being merciful. " Blessed are the merciful, for 
they shall obtain mercy." And this quality in God 
is so abundant that the psalmist in one Psalm af- 
firms twenty-six times that "his mercy endureth 
forever." In proportion to the guilt of the sinner, 
and his knowledge and acknowledgment of it, will 



The Pharisee and Publican. 189 

be his realizing sense of the value of the mercy of 
God. A knowledge of the heinousness of sin will 
beget a knowledge of the amazing goodness of God 
in showing mercy toward the sinner. As human 
laws recognize the propriety of punishing men with 
death or with years of imprisonment for a single of- 
fense, how much graver must a life of sin appear to 
God when we remember that he cannot look upon 
sin with the least allowance? 

" The publican went down to his house justified." 
He was justified in the very hour that* he prayed. 
Did not the recorder of names in the Lamb's book 
of life write his name therein and append to it, 
" justified ?" He was acquitted, discharged, re- 
leased from sin, and became a new creature in 
Christ Jesus. He realized that being justified by 
faith he had peace with God through his Lord Je- 
sus Christ. He was justified by the grace of the 
Lord. No man is justified by the law ; so that he did 
not have a merely formal or legal acquittal, but a gra- 
cious deliverance through faith, being justified, from 
all things from which he could not be justified by 
the law of Moses. As the law of Moses was a law 
divinely inspired, if any enactments of law could 
have justifying virtue those laws would possess it; 
but by the deeds of the law, even of the best and 
holiest law, shall no flesh be justified. By believ- 
ing in Jesus the sinner is justified. What a happy 
hour to the publican when for the first time in his 



190 Our Lord's Parables. 

life he went to his house and told the family that 
he was justified! He could then say, "The Spirit 
itself beareth witness with my spirit that I am a 
child of God." 

We have finished the comparison and the con- 
trast between the two systems — salvation by grace 
and salvation by works. The former leads to pres- 
ent safety and future blessedness in heaven, the lat- 
ter to deceptive self-righteousness and future aban- 
donment to the punishment of the wicked. True 
repentance* and implicit faith in God characterize 
the former, bigotry and pride mark the conduct of 
the latter. Choose ye to-day between truth and 
error. Choose the truth and live. 



The Unjust Judge. 

"And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that 
men ought always to pray, and not to faint; saying, There 
was in a city a judge which feared not God, neither re- 
garded man; and there was a widow in that city, and she 
came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And 
he would not for awhile; but afterward he said within him- 
self, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; yet because 
this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her 
continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear 
what the unjust judge saitlu And shall not God avenge 
his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though 
he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge 
them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man com- 
eth, shall he find faith on the earth?" Luke xviii. 1-8. 

IN this parable the key hangs at the door. We 
find inscribed on it, " Men ought always to pray, 
and not to faint." This gives us the subject in ad- 
vance, and as we unlock and open room after room 
the theme of prayer is constantly in our minds. 
Usually in our Lord's parables we are invited into 
the building, and after examining all its parts we 
sum up its beauties and its designs; but here we 
are greatly assisted in having a single subject for 
our meditations, and that one of unsurpassed prac- 
tical importance. 

Our subject is prayer. Faith falters here sooner 

(191) 



192 Our Lord's Parables. 

than at any other point. To use the words of 
prayer and have no assured confidence that there 
is a direct connection between the acts of God 
and the petition offered is common, w T hile to 
have such confidence requires a high degree of 
grace and trust. Ten thousand prayers are unan- 
swered through want of faith. Whoever has faith 
in prayer can easily have faith in all the doctrines 
of the Bible. We open our remarks on this par- 
able by giving in this place an article w r hich we 
wrote and published some years ago in the Central 
Methodist, and which Bishop McTyeire was kind 
enough io indorse in a private note sent us : 

PEAYEE A STUDY. 
As prayer is our daily duty and privilege, it is best 
to study it in several points of view. Its manner and 
spirit are essential to be knowm as well as any mis- 
takes to which we may be liable when we pray. 
One of the disciples of Jesus said to him one day: 
" Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his dis- 
ciples." (Luke xi. 1.) The request was made just 
as our Lord ceased praying in a certain place, and 
no doubt it was his example at the time which sug- 
gested the matter to the mind of the disciple. We 
may infer that John specially instructed his disci- 
ples in the manner and matter of prayer, as of 
prime importance. It will be seen that the request 
of the disciple named above caused the Lord to 



The Unjust Judge. 193 

repeat a part of his Sermon on the Mount, begin- 
ning with the manner of prayer. 

The manner of prayer is admirably shown in the 
Sermon on the Mount. Our Lord says, " After this 
manner therefore pray ye." Not essentially the 
same words at all times, but study like brevity, 
comprehensiveness, and want of repetition. Then 
follows the model: "Our Father which art in 
heaven, hallowed be thy name." Let every prayer 
begin with recognizing God, and close w T ith asking 
the object desired through Jesus Christ. As there 
is no other name given under heaven by w r hich w r e 
may be saved, we should ever hallow the name of 
God. " Thy kingdom come." This is the first re- 
quest, and it should be our first desire that the 
kingdom of Christ should reach to the ends of the 
earth. The missionary spirit is to be felt and ac- 
knowledged in the first petition. "Thy w 7 ill be 
done on earth as it is in heaven." God must rule 
the nations, and he must reign supreme in each 
heart. Personal purity will lead to national ren- 
ovation. " Give us this day our daily bread." The 
spread of the gospel and personal holiness precede 
the first meal of the day. There is no virtue in 
poverty, as w T e may pray for our daily bread, stand- 
ing here for the necessaries of life. "And forgive 
us our debts as we forgive our debtors." Debts, 
trespasses, and sins are used synonymously, as will 
be seen by comparing Matthew vi. 12, xiv. 15, and 
13 



194 Our Lord's Parables. 

xviii. 21, 22. "And lead us not into temptation, 
but deliver us from evil." Lead us, O Lord, this 
day, but not into temptation, and in mercy deliver 
us from all evil. These two are the only exemp- 
tions named in the prayer. Remember that the 
gospel sent abroad and holiness of heart and life 
are asked before we petition for bread, or forgive- 
ness, or deliverance from temptation or evil. What 
an excellent model of prayer in a few sentences — 
so comprehensive, so plain, so brief, so personal and 
practical ! 

The spirit of our prayer is explained by our 
Lord in a single sentence : "But thou, when thou 
prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast 
shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in se- 
cret." (Matthew vi. 6.) Enter the closet and shut 
the door before you pray. If you are praying in the 
great congregation do this first, arid then address 
God and not the people. One might enter the 
closet and leave an open door to be seen of men. 
The true spirit suggests that all external hinder- 
ances be removed, and then the heart is prepared 
to address God alone, asking for the blessings that 
it needs. 

We note some mistakes to which we $xe liable 
when w 7 e pray : 

1. We are not to seek a conspicuous, place. 
Christ said of some: "They loye to pray standing 
in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets." 



The Unjust Judge. 195 

The street-corners were for the more ambitious — 
the synagogues for those who could content them- 
selves with a few hearers. Both are exactly op- 
posite in spirit to the closet as a place of prayer. 
When Jesus was at Gethsemane he said to the dis- 
ciples : " Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. 
And he went a little farther, and fell on his face 
and prayed; and he went away again the second 
time and prayed ; and he left them and went away 
again and prayed the third time, saying the same 
words." (Matthew xxvi. 36-44.) Each time he 
left the crowd and went out alone to pray. This 
was his usual custom, sometimes expressed by going 
apart, sometimes by going into a mountain, and 
sometimes continuing alone in prayer all night. 

2. We are not to use vain repetitions when we 
pray. (Matthew vi. 7.) Repetition is not the thing 
prohibited, as our daily wants will ever be the 
same, and may be expressed in the same words. 
Our Lord prayed the same words in the example 
given above. It is vain repetitions, such as the 
heathen used, which we are to avoid. The heathen 
were accustomed to repeat many times, "Great is 
Diana of the Ephesians," or " O Baal, hear us," 
or similar expressions, to excite their minds to atten- 
tion. The papists use vain repetitions in their Ave 
Marias and Paternosters. Sometimes the preacher 
may do the same thing in spending some minutes 
in descriptions of the Deity. 



196 Our Lord's Parables. 

3. We are to avoid periodical praying. " Pray 
without ceasing" is Paul's direction. We should 
ever be in a frame of supplication to God, for we 
are ever needy. When has one ceased to pray ? We 
answer. When a single day and night have passed 
over his head without petitioning the Lord for mer- 
cies needed. A good man will pray morning, noon, 
and night, or oftener. We have no right to state 
our desires by the month, or the year, as if the 
Lord would furnish a wholesale supply. Do not 
many professors rely on the public Sunday prayers 
as a supply for the week? It is related of Dr. 
Franklin, when a boy, that he asked his father 
when laying in provisions for the season to say 
grace over them all at once to save time. Do not 
many Christians pursue this course, or omit possi- 
bly even the wholesale blessing? 

4. " Not as I will, but as thou wilt," should be 
the spirit of every prayer. If Jesus could prop- 
erly use these words, much more can weak and fal- 
lible men. The advantage is twofold. We have 
the wisdom of God and not our own, and the re- 
quest may be granted, but not in our way or at our 
time. We see but a part; the Lord comprehends 
all — past, present, future. From our petition he 
understands our desires, and from his infinite wis- 
dom and resources he directs the answer. It is said 
that Augustine's mother prayed daily for his con- 
version. He was wild, and she was uneasy. He 



The Unjust Judge. 197 

desired to visit Italy, and she opposed it. He went, 
and was converted in Milan. Augustine said after- 
ward about his mother's prayers : " Thou didst deny 
her what she prayed for then, that thou mightest 
grant her what she prayed for always/' 

We close. Let the Bible-reader search and find 
other scripture directions concerning the character 
of true prayer and the errors to which we are liable. 

The parables of our Lord usually proceed by 
comparison, but this is one of contrast. The object 
is to show an instance of success where there was 
the greatest improbability that success would follow 
effort, and from thence to demonstrate the certain- 
ty of an answer to prayers offered to our merciful 
Heavenly Father. No characters stand more at an- 
tipodes than God our Judge and the unjust judge of 
this parable. In the character of the unjust judge 
there is not a single redeeming trait. We saw 
many good qualities in the Pharisee, but here we 
can find none. As the barren fig-tree did not pro- 
duce one fig in three years, so here a man high in 
judicial authority has not one commendable feat- 
ure of his whole life. We notice his character. 

The judge had judicial authority in a whole 
city ; either by appointment or election he had ex- 
clusive rights of his office, and those of a character 
which involved the rights of others in life, reputa- 
tion, and property. To secure those rights to others 



198 Our Lord's Parables. 

he had taken the oaths belonging to his office and 
given all the pledges of which the subject was ca- 
pable; and yet the name " unjust judge" will rest 
upon him forever. Look at the particulars. 

He feared not God. 

He had neither reverential nor servile fear of 
God. He had taken the oaths of his office in the 
name of God without any regard for his Creator. 
Doubtless he believed if God existed he had but 
little to do with the affairs of this w T orld, and that 
all men irrespective of character were equally safe 
after death. This led him to adopt a course where 
policy and not principle governed all his actions. 
Such a life w T ould answer for a period of health 
and a time of safety, but for sickness and danger it 
had no provision of comfort. We once knew a 
fine scholar who was a professed infidel. One day 
he had declared in our presence that he w T ould pre- 
fer hell to heaven in the future in the event that 
he could rank with Bolingbroke, Voltaire, and Hume 
in intellect in the abode of lost spirits, stating 
that he could not endure heaven with the pious 
songs such as the churches employed. We assured 
him that he stood a fair chance to select his resi- 
dence, but w T e doubted whether he could ever reach 
the desired equality of rank with the leading infi- 
dels named. Soon after that time the horses ran 
away with the stage-coach which was full of pas- 
sengers, and our infidel one of the party. The 



The Unjust Judge. 199 

company said that he prayed audibly and earnestly 
from the moment that he knew of the danger they 
were in to the moment when the danger was passed. 
A man who fears not God is lost to all sense of 
proper fear. He may fear when the lightning peels 
the oak at his side because of his proximity to 
bodily danger, but he would not fear to take a 
bribe in secret if he were a judge. 

Holy writ assures us that the fear of the Lord is 
the beginning of wisdom. Without it all life is 
folly. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for- 
ever. It has in it no dregs of moral impurity, and 
it continues in eternity. One who fears the Lord 
aright perceives his justice to be as proper as his 
mercy. But this judge feared not God. 

Another quality belonging to this judge was that 
he regarded not man. He was a sinner who knew 
his own character. Many men either do not know 
themselves or will not acknowledge their evil ways; 
but this man, perhaps with no shame in his soul, 
said of himself that he neither feared God nor re- 
garded man. How shameful the character which 
he possessed ! 

Only the worst men ever become so hardened as 
to be indifferent to public opinion. The judgment 
of a community about each citizen, when all the 
facts are known, is generally right. The good man 
meets with approval, the bad man is under suspi- 
cion and censure. The lash of public odium is ap- 



200 Our Lord's Parables. 

plied to the latter every day. If some horrible 
deed is done in darkness, he is suspected. He is 
far gone in obduracy when he ceases to regard pub- 
lic opinion concerning himself. The innocent can- 
not bear the suspicion of their guilt. Sometimes 
they die under a charge wrongfully made. This 
judge had no regard for the truthful accusations 
which were laid at his door. How infamous his 
character ! 

He is known to this day by the title "the un- 
iust judge." How great the difference between a 
just and an unjust judge! An ancient king passed 
a law against adultery, declaring that the offender 
should lose his sight. The first offender was his own 
son. Here the love of the father and the vindica- 
tion of the law were in conflict. The unjust judge 
in the parable would have passed the offense, and 
thereby weakened all proper respect for the laws. 
But the king who passed this law was a just king. 
He brought his son before him, and had one of his 
ow T n eyes taken out and one of the eyes of his son. 
So the law was kept inviolate, and the son must 
have seen his sin in a light never before considered. 

We now see the character of the unjust judge. 
He was habitually unjust, and he neither feared 
God nor regarded man. How unlikely that any 
cause which depended solely on its own intrinsic 
merits would find favor in his eyes! He used 
filthy scales in weighing the law. Now if such 



The Unjust Judge. 201 

a cause as we have named should be heard favora- 
bly by him without a bribe or undue influence, 
how much more certain is it that our God will hear 
his children when they cry unto him ! 

Our plea is not to a man who fears not God, but 
to the living and true God. He weighs and admin- 
isters equity with a nicer adjustment than the finest 
scales of the apothecary. He is not only just, but 
he is full of compassion. He regards man so truly 
that "he gave his only-begotten Son that whosoever 
believeth on him might not perish, but have ever- 
lasting life." Any kind father would feel that if he 
had given a beloved son in sacrifice for another 
it was more than if he had given all his goods. 
Here God not only gave his Son for us in his own 
divine nature, but he clothed him with a human 
nature like our own, and gave him that nature for 
our race and for no other beings. " Will he not then 
with him freely give us all things?" He will cer- 
tainly hear and answer our prayers. 

In the particular instance that came before the 
unjust judge there were two sources of improba- 
bility not yet named. The pleader was a widow. 
Defenseless, unprotected, and without a vote at the 
polls or influence in the city, she was the importu- 
nate solicitor in the court. Her circumstances in 
life deprived her of money, and the law deprived 
her of power and influence. She had no attorney 
to plead for her, and knew not even the forms of 



202 Our Lord's Parables. 

the court. But she pleaded day after day. Her ad- 
versary was a man of the city, unjust as the judge 
was unjust, persecuting a poor widow — probably 
a man of wealth and social position, and having 
power and influence in every place. He seems to 
have paid no attention to the widow's pleading, so 
secure did he feel' in the known injustice of the 
judge and his own pow T ers. What added disad- 
vantages and improbabilities of success are here 
named! Still she pleaded her cause, and succeeded 
by pleading her cause. 

The elements of improbability here named be- 
fore the unjust judge are those which will insure 
success before the Judge of all the earth. He is 
specially the God of the fatherless and the widow. 
He has appointed his Son to be the Advocate with 
the Father for all the helpless and dependent ones. 
He pleads in his Father's court, where he never 
asks without receiving, and where all the forms of 
the law are observed. He paid the debts of the 
helpless with his own blood. He avenges their 
cause against all such adversaries as oppress the 
widow and the orphan. He will not look upon 
their sins with any allowance. God will hear the 
plea of the innocent and answer from heaven. 

In the decision of the unjust judge the sentence 
was right and the motive wrong. Many an act 
right in itself loses its reward by a wrong purpose 
in procuring it. A man may pay money into the 



The Unjust Judge. 203 

treasury of the Lord to be rid of the collector and 
to be seen of men. Another may preach more to 
support himself and family than to save souls. 
We knew a man who proposed to unite with the 
Church in the town where he lived that would give 
him the most patronage in trade. Here, the ease 
of the judge was his motive, and without any ref- 
erence to the justice or injustice of the cause of the 
widow. He said, "I will decide for her, lest by her 
continual coming she weary me." It seemed to him 
that she would never cease to come. He had a 
good salary, was rich, and increased in goods, and 
possibly had a life estate in his office, and was say- 
ing to himself, " Soul, take thine ease," and he was 
unwilling to be disturbed. Possibly some feeble 
remains of conscience were in his breast, and the 
widow reached them, making him unhappy ; and so 
he granted her request. The act was right, and the 
motive wrong. Let every one examine closely his 
motives in each step of life, for God judges more 
by intention than by overt acts. 

Surely our Lord has convinced all, in this sharp- 
ly drawn contrast between the justice and good- 
ness of God and the injustice and servility of an 
unworthy earthly judge, that "men ought always to 
pray, and not to faint." 

Men ought always to pray, because it is their 
duty to pray always. " Pray without ceasing" is the 
direction. The will and command of God are suf- 



204 Our Lord's Parables. 

ficient reasons for obedience at all times. We need 
ask no more than this: Hath God commanded? 
But here our pressing wants continue as long as 
the command to pray continues. In the morning 
Ave are in want, at noon we hunger, in the evening 
we thirst, at night we are enveloped with darkness, 
storms, and unseen dangers. The reason is appar- 
ent w T hy we should always pray. 

The privilege and the command to pray are to 
men, to all men. Whoever has wants may pray. 
Whoever is full, lacking nothing, may trust to that 
fullness. The wicked need not pray if he contin- 
ues to trust in and practice his wickedness. In this 
event he would lack repentance and faith. No 
prayers are heard and answered w T hen these are 
wanting. But the penitent sinner may pray, " God 
be merciful to me a sinner ! " 

Men may always pray, and not faint. The Lord's 
ear is not heavy that he cannot hear, nor his arm 
shortened that he cannot save. Why then should 
men faint when succor is at hand? A balm in Gil- 
ead and a physician there are ever present. Ten 
thousand testimonials exist that sin has been cured 
by the Great Physician. Look and live ! Go boldly 
to the throne of grace, and obtain mercy and find 
grace to help in time of need. 



The Wise and Foolish Virgins. 

" Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten 
virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the 
bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were 
foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took 
no oil with them; but the wise took oil in their vessels 
with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all 
slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry 
made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet 
him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their 
lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of 
your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise an- 
swered, saying, Not so ; lest there be not enough for us and 
you ; but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for your- 
selves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came ; 
and they that were ready went in with him to the mar- 
riage; and the door was shut. Afterward came also the 
other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he an- 
swered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. 
Watch therefore; for ye know neither the day nor the 
hour wherein the Son of man cometh." Matt. xxv. 1-13. 

IN the Gospel by John we have recorded, shortly 
before the betrayal and crucifixion of our Lord, 
his farewell sermon of comfort to his disciples. The 
consolatory words of that discourse are as precious 
as any known to earth. "Let not your heart be 
troubled ; ye believe in God, believe also in me," is 

(205) 



206 Our Lord's Parables. 

an average sample of the kind and encouraging 
words of Jesus. In the Gospel by Luke, shortly 
before the betrayal and crucifixion of our Lord, 
we have his farewell sermon of caution to his fol- 
lowers ; and in the center of that discourse the par- 
able of the wise and foolish virgins is recorded. 
Caution in a world of danger is as valuable and 
necessary as comfort in a world of hope and fear 
alternating. While the sermon recorded by John is 
more pleasant, the one recorded by Luke is equally 
important, and the more so because we are now in 
the Christian warfare. 

This parable is laid in the most attractive of all 
human events — a marriage. In a great variety of 
forms and customs all ages and countries reach the 
same end in the numerous marriages which take 
place, and the unbounded joy occasioned by the 
event. But sadly we see at earth's most choice 
festivity one-half of the gay and happy ones lost in 
midnight darkness, and just at the moment when 
they had the most sanguine hopes of entering into 
the mansions of light. We are humbled under this 
view, and conclude that the world can afford no 
unmixed joy, no roses without thorns. 

A Jewish marriage was one of taste and cere- 
mony. It was customary to have ten witnesses at 
a marriage, or at the opening and dedication of a 
synagogue. The bridegroom chose and invited 
these witnesses in due time. They were to prepare 



The Wise and Foolish Virgins. 207 

together, dress alike, act in harmony, and have the 
same customs and observances. On the day of the 
celebration of the nuptials they were to meet at 
the house of the bridegroom, have all their prepara- 
tion complete, and go together to meet the bride- 
groom, the bride, and their attendants, who were 
coming from the house of the bride. The marriage 
took place at the house of the bridegroom. Usu- 
ally the time was at the rising of the evening star. 
Lighted lamps, held in the hand by the attendants, 
were used. Vessels containing oil, from which the 
lamps carried by the witnesses were supplied, were 
a necessary accompaniment. A herald was sent 
forth by the bridegroom and his party to announce 
their approach to the witnesses, that there might be 
no delay in the marriage ceremony and the festivi- 
ties. This was literally the formula. 

The lesson taught is the state of the Church mil- 
itant, from its first call to duty and obedience to 
God to its entrance through the doors which open 
to admit the believer to eternal bliss and close on 
the hypocrite and self-deceived forever. Here we 
have a true picture of the Church in the aggregate, 
and of each individual member, whether saved or 
lost. . A truthful mirror shows not only the beauty 
of the face, but also its deformities. One who will 
not see the latter, but stands in pleasing admiration 
of the former, is injuring his own character when 
the painful truth is revealed, " Know thyself to-day, 



208 Our Lord's Parables. 

and to-morrow thou wilt not be a stranger to thy- 
self." 

In the admirably drawn picture of the wise and 
foolish virgins, what would first strike an observ- 
ant Jew with greatest force? It would be the like- 
ness that obtains between the two. 

As soon as our Lord began speaking he named 
the number of each as being exactly equal. Ten 
was the number required at a Jewish marriage, and 
here five of them are found to be foolish. It was 
remarkable that the number was the same, as the 
character possessed was so different. Wisdom and 
folly stand at farthest antipodes. Their opportuni- 
ties for improvement and their temptations to abuse 
their opportunities w T ere also the same. Still one 
half were wise and the other half foolish ; one half 
were saved and the other half lost. Just as we 
shall find in some families where the religious and 
educational training of the children are the same, 
some of them improve all their advantages, while 
others throw them away. 

Again they were alike in their general character, 
being ten virgins. In the judgment of society they 
were of equal credit and virtue. So great was 
their crecjit that the bridegroom did not hesitate to 
select and invite the foolish as readily as the wise. 
God is always discerning and judging the heart, but 
man can only perceive the exterior of human char- 
acter. Every Church will have in it foolish vir- 



The Wise and Foolish Virgins. 209 

gins, but the true Israel whom the Lord recognizes 
are all wise. 

All these virgins had the same invitation from 
the same bridegroom. We have not yet reached 
any difference between them. The voice that said 
to the wise, " Come, for all things are now ready," 
spoke the same words to the foolish. It was not an 
urgent, pressing plea to those who were saved, and 
a half-reluctant invitation to the lost that caused 
the latter to hesitate, and then procrastinate mak- 
ing preparation, and then to fail because they were 
not ready. It w^as not a specific direction as to 
time and place and costume given to the wise that 
enabled them to prepare, w^hile the foolish, lacking 
these things, were bewildered and lost. They were 
more like the members of the same church who had 
the same minister, the same doctrines, the same al- 
tar of prayer, the same hymns, the same sacra- 
ments, and even the same Bible, than they were 
like Calvinists and Arminians, or Catholics and 
Protestants. 

In their understanding of all the particulars of 
the invitation and preparation they were alike. 
They agreed as to the dress and style in which each 
one should appear. Their preparations were made 
together, and by the mutual assistance of one an- 
other. They did not differ as to the length of time 
necessary for the preparation. They were ready to 
go forth to meet the bridegroom on the same day 
14 



210 Our Lord's Parables. 

and at the same hour. None of these particulars 
can be assigned as any part of the reason for fail- 
ure with the foolish virgins. There was no accusa- 
tion of heresy on either side. With them there was 
no difference of opinion as to fundamental doctrines. 
No exclusive mode of baptism was alleged by the 
wise virgins, nor any close communion limited to 
themselves. No apostolical succession in the min- 
istry was claimed. No Pharisaical righteousness 
w r as paraded for a moment. 

The similarity between the two extended still 
farther than we have named. Each carried a lamp 
w 7 hich indicated an open profession of religion. No 
one relied upon morality and honesty alone to take 
them to heaven. Nor did they postpone joining 
the Church until they were aged and near death. 
In the morning of life, while they were virgins, 
they enrolled their names visibly and publicly as 
belonging to the bridegroom. The lamps were not 
dry and destitute of oil, but for a time they were 
all trimmed and burning. The surprising cry of 
the foolish was, "Our lamps are gone out!" They 
had religion for a time, but they fell from grace. 

They not only carried their lamps in their hands, 
but at their side they carried a vessel larger than 
the lamp that could hold a greater supply of oil. 
It was their design to be true Christians. But just 
here, for the first time, we catch a glimpse of the 
crowning folly of the foolish in allowing all external 



The Wise and Foolish Virgins. 211 

preparations to exceed the actual supply of oil in 
their vessels and grace in their hearts. They had 
the usual lamp and the larger vessel to hold oil, the 
right dress and the right day and the right com- 
pany, but they had provided only enough oil to fill 
a single lamp, and that would burn out hours be- 
fore midnight. How many Christians are like 
these, having abundant outside preparation for 
heaven, but very little of the Spirit and grace of 
God! 

The resemblance continues. They walked to- 
gether to meet the bridegroom along the same road. 
It was on the same afternoon of the same day. 
They were lovingly in each other's company. They 
agreed on the place where they should stop and 
await the coming of the bridegroom. They all 
slumbered together. As the night advanced they 
slept soundly at the same time. Together they 
heard the messenger when he said, "Behold, the 
bridegroom cometh." Each awoke at the same 
time. Each one arose and trimmed her lamp. 

We doubt whether any resemblance between two 
objects or persons can be found where they were 
alike in as many respects as are here stated. A 
certain supply of oil was the only difference. The 
Spirit of God dwelling in their heart is the only 
difference between the real and nominal professors 
of religion. The wise virgins prepared their own 
hearts aright, but they could neither behold nor 



212 Our Lord's Parables. 

judge the hearts of the foolish. "The Lord alone 
trieth the reins and searcheth the hearts of the chil- 
dren of men." What a fatal difference existed be- 
tween the two ! It w T as unknown by all the ten 
until the last moment. Then the announcement 
was astounding, overwhelming. They might say, 
" Lord, Lord, have w T e not prophesied in thy name, 
and in thy name done many wonderful works," but 
the answer is returned, " I never knew you." The 
door is shut. 

In all the Churches men and women are found 
who have only a name to live. They deceive their 
own hearts and the Church of God, and so live 
and die, possessing, as all believe, a good religious 
character. With complacency they may look back 
in a dying-hour upon a long line of performances, 
and trust more to them than to the blood of Christ. 
A funeral eulogium may be pronounced in which 
these performances are tabled with great parade 
and exactness. Earth may say a good man has 
fallen, but God knoweth. The rich man died in 
great credit, and was buried in purple and fine 
linen, and his brethren thought he had ascended to 
Abraham's bosom; but it was Lazarus who went 
thither, w T hile the rich man "lifted up his eyes in 
hell, being in torments." 

What a careful work is self-examination! It is 
far more important than the impossible task of ex- 
amining our neighbor. It is more charitable and 



The Wise and Foolish Virgins. 213 

scriptural. Begin with your own heart, and see 
that it is right. Let all other preparation pass un- 
til this is complete. The husbandman examines 
the heart of the seed to determine the kind to cast 
into the ground. He knows that a rough exterior 
may cover a sound heart. " My son, give me thine 
heart," is the command of the Lord. A clock can 
no more run without weights or power than a man 
can be a Christian with an unclean heart. "A new 
heart will I give you," is the assurance of our God. 
Meet not the bridegroom without this adorning. 
Trimming a lamp avails nothing after- the oil is ex- 
tinguished. Midnight is too late an hour to buy 
oil. 

A very common mistake was made by the foolish 
virgins when they discovered that their lamps had 
gone out. They supposed that the wise could di- 
vide with them, and thus supply oil for the ten. The 
grace of God that bringeth salvation is so personal 
that no one can safely give to another any quantity 
of the precious gift. And yet thousands believe 
that they will escape the damnation of hell in this 
way. A father's devotion to the Church and a 
mother's prayers, many children suppose, will se- 
cure them from danger, while they continue to roll 
sin under their tongues as a sweet morsel. No, in- 
deed; each one must repent and believe for him- 
self, and no exchange or appropriation of the piety 
of another is ever tolerated. T\ r e read of a man 



214 Our Lord's Parables. 

who was accustomed, when the minister or any 
person approached him on the subject of the salva- 
tion of his soul, to say, " My wife, Mary, prays for 
both of us." One night he dreamed that Mary 
and himself went hand in hand to the gate of 
heaven expecting to enter. Peter was at the gate, 
and as he opened it he said, "Come in, Mary, for 
both." The dreamer was left, and the gate was shut. 
The evil of procrastination was seen in the his- 
tory of the foolish virgins. They had many weeks 
and days given them for preparation, and one main 
duty to discharge in securing an abundant supply 
of oil, and this was the duty that was constantly 
postponed. At length when the last day arrived, 
and the sun had retired from sight, and the even- 
ing star had appeared, and even the hour of mid- 
night approached, they were still unprepared. Mid- 
night was the worst hour of the twenty-four to make 
preparation. All the shops where oil was sold were 
closed, and the shop-keepers were asleep. The door 
was opened only long enough to allow those who 
were ready to enter, and then on the unworthy 
it was shut forever. But " seek ye first the king- 
dom of God and his righteousness," is the command 
of Jesus. Satan answers: "Ye shall not surely die; 
To-morrow shall as this day be, and more abundant." 
Unusual privileges had been given to the foolish 
virgins. The bridegroom, the Lord Jesus, had in- 
vited them to his marriage. He gave them his 



The Wise and Foolish Virgins. 215 

elect saints — the wise virgins — as their companions. 
They had abundant time for preparation. They 
did all external work well. They were not pre- 
vented for a day by any calamity. Their associa- 
tions were with the good to the last moment. But 
when discovery was made of their great want, un- 
usual privileges were followed by unusual silence 
on the part of the Lord. The door was shut on 
them forever without a word. They were left 
speechless in outer darkness. In a single moment 
the wise entered and saw the glorious light of par- 
adise, while the foolish fell in the blackness of night 
without sun, moon, or stars. "Why will ye die?" 



The Rich Man and Lazarus. 



"There was a certain rich man which was clothed in 
purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day; 
and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was 
laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with 
the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table ; moreover, 
the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass 
that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into 
Abraham's bosom; the rich man also died and was buried, 
and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and 
seeth Abraham afar off) and Lazarus in his bosom. And 
he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, 
and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in 
water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this 
flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy 
life-time receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus 
evil things; but now lie is comforted and thou art tor- 
mented. And besides all this, between us and you there is 
a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from 
hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that 
would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee there- 
fore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's 
house: for I have five brethren; that he may testify unto 
them, lest they also come into this place of torment. 
Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the 
prophets; let them hear them. And lie said, Nay, father 
Abraham ; but if one went unto them from the dead, they 
will repent. And he said unto him, J A they hear riot 
(216) 



The Rich Man and Lazarus. 217 

Moses and the prophets, neither will the}- be persuaded, 
though one rose from the dead." Luke xvi. 19-31. 

THIS parable differs from all the other parables 
of our Lord in giving the true character of good 
and bad men shortly after they die. Indeed, it is 
the only time "when Christ raised the curtain at the 
grave and gave us the sight of eternity in the first 
hour that we enter its endless domains. 

The parable is peculiar also in being a direct ex- 
ample and authority of our Lord for preaching a 
sermon concerning the dead. Here he gives us a 
plain and faithful discourse as to two men who had 
died near the same place and near the same time. 
Ko friend of either party had asked for the ser- 
mon. To the kindred of the rich man it would 
have been the direst insult, while poor Lazarus 
had no friends to give him a decent sepulture. But 
the Master without invitation sets the example of 
naming the dead personally in his discourse and of 
hiding neither virtues nor faults. 

We have a class of men who seek to give this 
parable very mythical interpretations, and to stress 
the word hell with a light and temporary signifi- 
cation. In our mind, there is no doubt that our 
Lord had in his eye some particular family whom 
he would not name, as it is not important to keep a 
registry of lost souls. In this family there were 
six brethren, all living at their ease and in pleas- 
ure. The rich man named is a certain rich man, 



218 Our Lord's Parables. 

and not any rich man, and was perhaps the eldest and 
most influential of his family ; and hence his sudden 
dread, when he found hell was a reality, that his 
brethren under his example and training might come 
to that place of torment. He was probably a profess- 
or of religion of the purest orthodoxy, but a man 
who loved the foremost dog in the chase more than 
he loved Lazarus. There are professors who love 
the dollar in their pocket more than they love the 
preacher who is taxing brain, body, and soul to 
preach for them and their families the unsearchable 
riches of Christ. Our Lord did not select the worst 
characters to show us who were lost, but those of 
fair reputation, and who could hold membership in 
any Church. It seems to us that those who are un- 
believers in future endless punishment should seek 
to show T that the term " hell " used here had the worst 
and not the best signification for the future state. 
Of course the body is not in torment, for it was 
very recently buried. If the soul can be in tor- 
ment when it has only reached hades, what will be 
its condition when finally it reaches hellf As there 
is no intimation of the release of the rich man in 
all the centuries that have passed, let men measure 
and weigh their words when they fix a light mean- 
ing to the rich man's torment in the first hour of 
his misery. 

Let us analyze the character of the rich man. 
As we liave said, it was a certain rich man who was 



The Rich Man and Lazarus. 219 

named, and not any rich man ; therefore the real 
character of this rich man is to be considered with- 
out special reference to his riches. The fact that 
he was a rich man, in itself viewed, does not prove 
that he was religious or irreligious, but is simply 
part of the description, so that his hearers might 
know the man. The statement that he was clothed 
in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously 
every day is for the purpose of identity and de- 
scription, and not as explaining his character. If 
he had been a poor man living in a cottage, the 
same sins might be brought to his door that are 
chargeable to his account. One of the strongest 
sayings of the word of God as to riches is this : " The 
love of money is the root of all evil." Here the 
sin is not in having money, but it is in its inordi- 
nate love. A man without a dollar may love 
money so as to be guilty of this sin, while a mill- 
ionaire may hold money with a light and easy 
hand and heart as a gift from his Lord to be used 
for his glory. In such a case the former is guilty 
of the sin named, and the latter is not only free 
from the guilt but so uses the mammon of unright- 
eousness as to do great good. It is true that riches 
often become a snare and a temptation to commit 
the sin of loving money ; but this is the fault of the 
possessor of the riches, and not of the riches them- 
selves. And every man possessing riches must 
watch and examine himself narrowly at this point. 



220 Our Lord's Parables. 

What was the rich man's sin ? In the absence 
of houses and homes prepared by law for the poor, 
it was the custom of the country to carry the un- 
fortunate like Lazarus to the gates and doors of 
the rich and there leave them for the gratuitous 
gifts of bread and water which were expected to be 
bestowed by those in affluence. So far as the ac- 
count goes we cannot find any greater sin in the 
rich man than allowing a poor man full of sores to 
lie unattended at his gate, and between his bodily 
sufferings and his hunger to die. Certainly this 
was a great sin ; but it might happen in the nine- 
teenth century, and in the Church of God. There 
is nothing in the account to indicate that it was 
miserliness on the part of the rich man that caused 
the sufferings and death of the poor man, but it 
was an act of unjustifiable neglect. The law of the 
land did not compel the rich man to feed Lazarus, 
hence we learn that God holds us responsible for 
some duties not expressly enjoined by law. Here 
is a man who has lost his soul, and his worst act is 
one not laid at his door by legal obligation. It 
might be supposed that the rich man did not know 
that Lazarus was at his gate ; but when we remem- 
ber the custom of the country, that his carriers 
were to lay him at the gate and give the rich man 
notice, connected w r ith the humble and pleading pe- 
tition of the poor man for the crumbs that fell 
from the rich man's tabic, and the immediate rec- 



The Kich Max and Lazarus. 221 

ognition of the poor man by the rich man after 
both were dead, we cannot doubt that the rich man 
knew his condition and wants, and purposed to at- 
tend to them, but was so absorbed in his pleasures 
and pursuits that they escaped his memory. 

When we come to inquire further what was the 
sin of the rich man, we shall have to penetrate 
deeper than his external conduct. Doubtless there 
was many a time the whisper to his soul : " Ye shall 
not surely die. Look around and see the deeds of 
goodness on the part of God, and take courage 
against unnecessary alarm. Think of the summer 
and the sunshine, and the days of health allotted, 
and the fruits of the earth, and the flowers, and 
the friends, and the perpetual round of enjoyments, 
and dismiss all fears of hell." Storms, drought, 
epidemics, sickness, feebleness, age, and enemies are 
kept out of sight as suggestive arguments to show 
the severity of God. 

Again, we have no information nor any fact re- 
corded that creates a probability that this man 
ever truly repented of his sins. He regarded him- 
self as quite moral and better than other men. Di- 
viding society into classes, he considered himself as 
in the first list. The notion of total depravity of 
moral nature as applied to himself was a monstrous 
conception, and when the Scripture asserted, " The 
whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint," it 
was not his head nor his heart that was meant. 



222 Our Lord's Parables. 

He trusted in himself that he was righteous. Ev- 
ery good deed done for a neighbor was written 
down in his book as part of the reward which 
should enable him to enter heaven, but it had no 
place in the Lamb's book of life. He was afraid of 
the lightning and thunder which lasted only a mo- 
ment, but was not afraid of hell which lasted forever. 

His faith was no better than his repentance. 
While he read Moses and the prophets, and called 
Abraham his father, he saw only the deist's God. 
His eyes never beheld God or his Son as making 
propitiation for his sins. He had faith without per- 
ceiving the real object of faith. Being whole as 
he conceived, he did not see that he needed a phy- 
sician. He had read of the balm of Gilead and 
the physician there, but did not realize that he 
needed the remedy. That to-morrow should "as 
this day be, and more abundant" for him, he had 
no doubt. The very day that he entered hell he 
said : " Soul, take thine ease ; thou hast much goods 
laid up in store for many years." Many, many 
radical defects were in his character and filling 
him with sin because he had never prayed, " God 
be merciful to me a sinner ! " 

Here we have an exception to the rule that our 
knowledge of men stops at the grave. We attend 
them in their last sickness, minister to their wants, 
sympathize with their feebleness, forget their de- 
fects, magnify their virtues, and place almost im- 



The Rich Man and Lazarus. 223 

plicit confidence in their last utterances. The most 
of men hope that they have made peace with God, 
and there is charity enough in the breasts of the 
survivors to believe that the hope is justified. Even 
in death-bed repentances perhaps it is well enough 
to hope for the best result, while we must know — if 
we allow ourselves to reason about it in the light 
of God's word, and from our observation of those 
who recover from sickness after all expectation of 
recovery is gone — that such professions of change of 
heart are very unreliable. No step is more unwise 
than to venture on a life of sin and impenitence 
trusting to forgiveness in the last hour. Let us 
take advantage of this rare opportunity, and enter 
eternity with one who has been dead in the body 
only a single hour. 

Notice how soon the rich man is dead; and at 
the same moment he is in hell, in torment, in con- 
scious misery extending to the very tip of his 
tongue, and realizing the past, present, and future 
of all his history and surroundings. He can now 
remember the word of the Lord, " The wicked shall 
be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget 
God." His condition is personally serious and crit- 
ical, and there is no room for an account of asso- 
ciates around him in torments like his own. While 
his body lies still in death, the undertaker measur- 
ing him for the coffin, busy fingers preparing his 
shroud, the minister or other officiating person pre- 



224 Our Lord's Parables. 

paring the choicest eulogy on his worth and virtues, 
and probably his piety, instantly his spirit, with 
wondrous powers of increased capacity, views the 
whole scene of past misdirected influence, of pres- 
ent pain, and of future danger to himself and his 
brethren. His vision is so enlarged that he can 
see across the great gulf that is fixed from hell to 
heaven. His knowledge is so accurate that he can 
recognize Abraham who had lived and died many 
centuries before he came into the world. His hear- 
ing is so improved that he understands the words 
spoken by Abraham in heaven, although the tone 
is that of ordinary conversation. His voice can be 
heard in heaven from hell and the words plainly 
understood. The time is so short since he died that 
his human earthly feelings are all unchanged as he 
pleads for his brethren and prays for their welfare. 
Like a drowning man catching at straws, his prayer 
is to Abraham, as he is in his sight. What are we 
to think of his mental powers now after nineteen 
centuries have passed, when one hour showed such 
amazing strength? How do he and his brethren 
stand to-day related to eternity? Is it not well 
that the word eternity occurs but once in the 
Scriptures? One eternity for the good and one for 
the bad, but O how different ! 

In the true development of the rich man's char- 
acter and that of other sinners dwelling in all the 
world like him, the most astounding statement is 



The Rich Man and Lazarus. 225 

made to him by Abraham iu the close of their col- 
loquy : " If they hear not Moses and the prophets, 
neither would they be persuaded though one rose 
from the dead." Men take for granted two false po- 
sitions — that God is under obligation to furnish 
more proof of his will and man's duty and the re- 
alities of eternity than he has furnished, and that 
such additional proof would lead all men to repent- 
ance. 

In this life the Christian walks by faith and not 
by sight. If demonstrations of a mathematical 
kind, or proofs most obvious to his senses, were fur- 
nished every man of the torments of hell and the 
bliss of heaven, there would be no virtue in obe- 
dience to God, any more than we are not entitled 
to praise for keeping our hands out of the fire. 
AVe must act from principle and on reasonable 
faith on these subjects to merit any consideration 
for our course. Now God has furnished us the 
most abundant and most satisfactory evidence of 
which these subjects are capable. Constant mira- 
cles to prove every position would soon lose their 
force, and occasional miracles would be liable to 
imitation and deception. But when all revealed 
truth is contained in human language and comes 
to us under inspiration from heaven, and is capable 
of transfer to all the dialects of earth, we have 
proofs which no reasonable man may gainsay and 
which abide with us forever. And it is the climax 
15 



226 Our Lord's Parables. 

of presumption for lost and sinful man to dictate 
to God in the least degree either the extent or man- 
ner of revelation which he shall make of his will 
to us. 

The greatest hinderance to voluntary faith is in a 
disrelish of the things proposed. In religion the 
depraved heart dislikes the justice of God and the 
terms of his law, and therefore an opposition to the 
truth arises before the argument in its favor is con- 
sidered. We say boldly that if the proofs of the 
Christian religion were addressed to mankind just 
as they are, and all natural desires led to the hope 
that they w T ere true, there would not be an unbe- 
liever found among men. The Christian religion 
is proved to be true by all the kinds and varieties 
of evidence, miracles, prophesy, internal conformity 
to man's best interests, history, and every degree 
of probability. But the universal cry of the de- 
praved heart is, We will not have this man Christ 
Jesus to reign over us ! 

What a striking contrast appears at two points 
between the rich man and Lazarus ! The rich man 
lay in purple and fine linen, attended by physi- 
cians, kindred, and neighbors, relieved from suffer- 
ing as far as medicine and attention could relieve 
him, and when dead has a costly burial and funer- 
al. The poor man died covered with sores and 
perishing with hunger, unburied, and unattended 
except by the dogs. In an hour the rich man is 



The Rich Man and Lazarus. 227 

in hell and the poor man in heaven. The re- 
sources of God are infinite, and these men change 
places immediately. The rich man is painfully re- 
minded that he had all his good things while alive 
and Lazarus his evil things, and that now their 
conditions are changed forever. Lazarus speaks 
not a word even of the rich man's neglect, while 
the rich man pleads as long as he can have an au- 
dience with Abraham. 

We doubt whether any character in the Bible is 
presented with as little recorded of his good deeds 
as that of Lazarus, where it is certain that noble 
virtues were possessed. The heavenly registry will 
contain them all; the earthly registry may not 
know one of them. As the rich man is sent into 
endless torment without any specification of out- 
ward sins, so Lazarus reaches Abraham's bosom 
after a life so quiet that not one of its deeds was 
known. Humanly speaking, he appears the most 
passive of men, carried by beggars without a word 
of thankfulness or complaint, and only once mak- 
ing even a request, when in extreme hunger he 
asked for the crumbs that fell from the rich man's 
table. Let these thoughts destroy within us all 
hope that our works have such merit with God as 
to assist in our salvation to any degree. History 
is turned an unusual way in this instance, the ante- 
cedents of Lazarus being all unknown, and his un- 
honored death and blissful life beyond being written 



228 Our Lord's Parables. 

in undying letters. We believe that he had done 
many good deeds in the days of his health and 
strength, and that some will rise up in the judg- 
ment to call him blessed, but now they are among 
the secrets of the Lord. His life was of that kind 
that " tells no tale of all the good it does." 

The name Lazarus has a significance: it signi- 
fies God is my help. There is no other name than 
the name Jesus "given under heaven among men 
whereby we must be saved." Through his name 
w T hosoever believeth in him shall receive remission 
of sins. At his name every knee shall bow and 
every tongue confess. And in the destitute and 
helpless condition of poor Lazarus it was a comfort 
to have a name that possessed in its very significa- 
tion strong trust in God. The name has passed 
into many languages on account of the profound 
impression made on men by this parable. To one 
who has no overt acts of his life recorded in mem- 
ory of his good works, it is well to have a name 
significant of religious virtue. May our name, dear 
reader, be written on the palms of the hands of the 
Eedeemer ! 

The Jews, in our Saviour's day, named three 
places to which they supposed the righteous went 
when they died. They supposed that some went to 
the garden of Eden, some to be under the throne 
of glory, and some to the bosom of Abraham. 
They said that as Abraham was the father of the 



The Rich Man and Lazarus. 229 

faithful it was eminently proper that the righteous 
Jews should go to him ; and so our Lord here shows 
them that one of their own number who relied upon 
his own righteousness did not go to Abraham, but 
a poor beggar who could not receive the crumbs 
that fell from the rich man's table not only reached 
Abraham's bosom, but he was carried thither by 
the angels of God. Such expressions as the one 
here given, and such as " To-day shalt thou be with 
me in paradise,'' and others of a similar character 
used by our Lord, would strike the Jewish mind 
with great power. And we see that while Lazarus 
died so full of sores in his body that he was prob- 
ably untouched by men and left without a burial, 
kind angels took charge of his spirit as a precious 
trust and bore it away to the realms of light and 
life. 

We can easily tell the true character of Lazarus 
while living in the world by his condition after 
death. Very many scriptures assure us that none 
but those who live righteously can die and enter 
heaven. The kindred of Lazarus, the place where 
he lived, and his Church relations are all unknown, 
but that he had true repentance toward God and 
saving faith, accompanied with the Holy Spirit to 
regenerate his soul, and a life of obedience on his 
part, we know as well as if our Lord had given us 
in detail the religious experience and life of this 
good man. An abode in heaven is positive proof 



230 Our Lord's Parables. 

of faithfulness on earth. Very unsatisfactory must 
the reflection be to any man .when he thinks soberly 
of any possible effort that he can make in a dying- 
hour to answer the demands of eternity with a life 
load of sin accumulated in the past. But to the 
saint who falls asleep in Jesus, how sweet the retro- 
spect of a life devoted to his service, and how bright 
the prospect of entering heaven and dwelling for- 
ever with the Lord! Let the reader take choice 
between the examples set before him in the lives, 
death, and future condition of the rich man and 
Lazarus. "Do quickly what is in thine heart. 
The night cometh when no man can work.' 1 



THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 



" The Lord is risen indeed." Luke xxiv. 34. 

IT has been said that for many years after " our 
Jesus had gone up on high," on each returning 
Sunday, which was the day of his resurrection, the 
Christian children in Jerusalem, and in many other 
places, were accustomed to wear badges on their 
garments having the words written on them in 
large and plain letters, " The Lord is risen indeed." 
What a beautiful procession would be thus formed 
by the young people who had given their hearts to 
Christ! In a period of persecution and danger 
courage mixed with faith would make the scene all 
the brighter. 

These five words are the foundation, center, and 
superstructure of the Christian system. On them 
rests the Bible and all our hopes of immortality 
and heaven. If they are true, an abundant en- 
trance will be ministered to the saints in light be- 
yond the present pilgrimage ; if they are false, more 
than Egyptian darkness settles down upon the 
world, and of all men the believers in them are 
most miserably duped. If they are false? Impos- 
sible ! They are upheld by all the varieties of evi- 
dence ; by history, by miracles, by prophecy ; by the 

(231) 



232 The Resurrection of Christ. 

goodness of our Lord and the purity of his teach- 
ings ; by the necessity of the case and by Christian 
experience. We propose to examine the subject as 
a question of fact, so that all men may look at the 
proofs alike and with impartial eyes, if they will. 

The Jews and the Christians are the only people 
competent to examine and decide the question be- 
fore us. Other nations believed in " lords many and 
gods many," and did not have the books, the in- 
clination, or the opportunity, to understand our 
subject. It is one of the most remarkable things 
in the world that the Jews and Christians not only 
had an interest in the subject from opposite sides that 
led them to its most careful and thorough study, but 
they read the same books and relied on the same 
authorities. We defy the world to produce another 
controversy where the contending parties agreed on 
all the disputed questions except one. All the an- 
tecedent questions, such as the books to be received 
as canonical, the promise of a Messiah, the appear- 
ance, life, and death of Christ, with his asserted 
claims to Messiahship, are all admitted by both 
parties, and the issue is narrowed down to the ques- 
tion, What became of the body of Jesus after he was 
crucified and buried? Here is an agreement un- 
paralleled, and an issue strange and wonderful. 
Both parties say that the body of Jesus was never 
seen in death after it was laid in the tomb of Jo- 
seph. 



The Resurrection of Christ. 233 

Two questions of importance demand attention: 
1. Is there a book called the Bible which makes 
Jesus Christ, who is said to have risen from the 
dead, its central figure? 2. Was there such a man 
as Jesus Christ living in the age and at the places 
named, as stated in his life written by four histo- 
rians ? 

1. The Bible. We knoiv with certainty that 
there is such a book as the Bible. We have read 
it in our own native tongue. It consists of two 
parts called the Old and the New Testament. Jesus 
Christ was predicted in the first as the coming Sav- 
iour of the world, and in the'last the history of his 
coming is made known. This book called the Bi- 
ble has been translated into nearly all the dialects 
of earth, and its friends to-day are sending it to 
every part of the habitable globe with the claim of 
its inspiration from heaven. That claim secures its 
careful protection by its friends, and its critical 
scrutiny by its enemies. Let us look at it in the 
light of the question before us. 

Some forty authors wrote the Bible. No human 
book has been written by so many pens except 
when this very Bible has demanded translation or 
revision. These authors were of every variety of 
ability, and yet on all the great subjects of the book 
which the world by searching never ascertained — 
such as God, man, salvation, the soul, worship, and 
our immortality — they not only substantially but 



234 The Resurrection of Christ. 

literally agree. God must have moved the hands 
and hearts to write the words. 

Again, fifteen hundred years elapsed from the 
writing of the first book to the last. The world 
was twenty-five hundred years old when the first 
book was written. God, by Moses, wrote the chief 
heads of doctrine and duty on stone to show that 
it was imperishable. No other book was ever fif- 
teen hundred years in preparation, or perhaps more 
than one hundred years. Surely the Bible is the 
most wonderful of books, and deserves the most 
profound consideration. 

It would be trifling with the intelligence of the 
world to doubt the existence of the Jews as a na- 
tion from a period as far back as profane history 
can reach. Their Bible, the Old Testament, w r as 
in their hands running back to the date of each 
book, and it is in their hands to-day. What are 
some of its contents? As a book governing the 
Jews, it contains their genealogy, their laws, and 
their religion. 

All people are particular as to their genealogy. 
No truer account is found than the family record 
in our Bibles. Here births, deaths, and marriages 
are correct to a day. The subject is more impor- 
tant where the laws of primogeniture obtain. Ev- 
ery reason existed with the Jews for keeping an 
exact genealogy. Knowing, as the centuries passed, 
that they were the chosen people of God, and that 



The Resurrection of Christ. 235 

they held his revealed truth, they were more care- 
ful to preserve their family record. Added to this 
they were divided into twelve tribes, which in- 
creased the value of a true history of each one. 
No mistake could possibly occur among them in 
their genealogical tables that would not be detected. 
Now T these tables run through the Old Testament. 
They rest side by side with the prophecies which 
predict our Christ 

The laws of any country are so well known and 
so revered that forgery is impossible. Neither a 
general nor a local law could be passed on any peo- 
ple as their own law unless they had received it as 
such. All the courts w 7 ould reject it at once. The 
Jewish Scriptures contain the civil and penal laws 
of the Jews. When additions were made they 
were made through the additional Scriptures that 
were given to them by inspiration. Plato, a heathen, 
said, "No mortal can make laws to purpose;" and 
Demosthenes said " law was the inspiration and gift 
of God." Running along side by side with the 
prophecies which predict the coming of our Christ 
are the laws of the Jew's. From Moses to John the 
Baptist, destruction, mutilation, or change of these 
laws would be an absolute impossibility. The Jew- 
ish genealogy and laws w T ere kept intact throughout 
the centuries, and these stood as a high wall pro- 
tecting every prophecy that referred to our Lord. 

A people situated as were the Jews would be 



236 The Resurrection of Christ. 

tenaciously jealous of their religion. Indeed, all 
people are sensitive at this point. The destruction of 
an idol-temple has been the cause of war. But the 
Jews had received the holy law from God ; he had 
talked to their prophets and seers, he had been a 
pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, 
and he was always to them as the shadow of a great 
rock in a weary land. He had prohibited idolatry, 
and had given them a pure, spiritual worship. 
Hence in their darkest day they had more than 
seven thousand men who had not bowed the knee 
to Baal. 

The pertinency of these truths, as applied to the 
resurrection of our Saviour, is seen in the fact that 
the most bitter enemies of the cross, the Jews, fur- 
nish scriptures full of prophecy that present the 
Lord as truly and circumstantially as if they had 
been writing his life after his decease. Some infi- 
dels have felt the weight of the prophetical argu- 
ment until they have raised the question whether 
the Jewish Scriptures were not written after our 
Lord's advent into the w r orld. All the proof is 
overwhelming that the last of the Old Testament 
Scriptures was written four hundred years before 
the birth of Christ, and the first of them fifteen 
hundred years before that time. Now we aver 
that one hundred Scriptures, or more, written be- 
tween the periods named, present our Lord with 
prehistoric faithfulness. The idle dream of Lord 



The Resurrection of Christ. 237 

Bolingbroke that Christ and his friends made his 
life to conform to the prophecies that they might 
thereby secure a triumph, is too absurd to be con- 
sidered. He is the only infidel who has risked his 
reputation on such a statement. Could they choose 
the place and time of the birth of Jesus, his flight 
into Egypt, his miracles, his betrayal, his death, 
and his resurrection, to secure a triumph? Let us 
notice a few of the prophecies concerning our Lord 
made centuries before he was born. 

We read in Micah, written seven hundred years 
before Christ: "But thou, Bethlehem-Ephratah, 
though thou be little among the thousands of Ju- 
dah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me 
that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth 
have been from of old, from everlasting.' ' In Mat- 
thew we read that Jesus was born in Bethlehem of 
Judea, and the prophecy above was applied to him 
in these words: "And thou, Bethlehem, in the land 
of Juda, art not the least among the princes of 
Juda; for out of thee shall come a Governor, that 
shall rule my people Israel." At that moment the 
wise men of the East were believers in Jesus, and 
Herod the king was troubled about him, so that a 
demonstration exists as soon as he w^as born that 
he was the Messiah foretold in prophecy. 

In Hosea we read: "When Israel was a child, 
then I loved him and called my son out of Egypt." 
This prediction was made seven hundred and forty 



238 The Resurrection of Christ. 

years before Christ. No human sagacity could 
foresee that Christ would be born in Bethlehem, 
and that in consequence of a cruel decree pf Herod 
to slay all the male children in Judea of two years 
old and under, the parents of Jesus would select 
Egypt as the country to w 7 hich they would flee, 
and that the historian of our Lord would use it as 
the fulfillment of this prophecy, saying, "Out of 
Egypt have I called my son." 

One thousand years before our Lord w r as born 
the psalmist made this prophecy concerning him: 
" They part my garments among them, and cast lots 
upon my vesture." At the crucifixion this was ful- 
filled. The history says: "And they crucified him, 
and parted his garments, casting lots ; that it might 
be fulfilled which w T as spoken by the prophet, They 
parted my garments among them, and upon my 
vesture did they cast lots." 

We need not quote more specific prophecies con- 
cerning Jesus which had fulfillment either in his 
life or death. His life, death, and resurrection are 
full of them. Whole chapters of Isaiah may be 
read as the history of Jesus Christ, and they were 
written seven hundred years before he was born 
into the world. The argument from prophecy is 
undoubted proof that Jesus was the Son of God. 
It is only resisted where the mind and heart are set 
on unbelief. 

Was there such a man as Jesus Christ? It seems 



The Resurrection of Christ. 239 

unnecessary to ask the question. But its impor- 
tance exists in the fact that if he really lived the 
works done by him required the power of God to 
do them, and if he was a mythical person there 
were abundant witnesses to prove the fact. When 
four separate histories were published throughout 
the land shortly after his crucifixion and resurrec- 
tion, the Christian religion would have been crushed 
by showing that its author was an imaginary per- 
son. Hannibal and Caesar and the first Napoleon 
lived no more certainly than did Jesus Christ. Jo- 
sephus, Suetonius, and Tacitus all mention Christ, 
the latter recording at length the progress of his 
religion ; and no one ever thought of disputing the 
accuracy of these histories. About one hundred 
and thirty years after the ascension of our Lord, 
the astute infidel Celsus wrote against Christianity, 
in which all the main facts of the life of Christ 
were stated and admitted. He was answered by 
Qrigen. Next, Porphyry, in the third century, 
did the same thing, making the same admissions. 
To this day infidels acknowledge that Christ lived. 
We come now to the life of our Lord. He was 
a "man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." 
His enemies despised even the town where he was 
brought up, saying, " Can any thing good come out 
of Nazareth ? " His lowly origin and life were their 
chief hope of his defeat. Tantalizingly they said : 
" He is only the son of a carpenter, and his mother 



240 The Resurrection of Christ. 

and kindred are all here with us — plain, common 
people, having no prestige, and nothing on which 
to found the belief that he was to be the Messiah." 
Such w T as his appearance to all men as he entered 
upon the active stage of life. 

No man is obliged to prove a negative. It is not 
required in any court. But all experience and ob- 
servation show that all men w T ill establish the nega- 
tive of any proposition where they can easily do 
so, and where by that proof their adversary will be 
vanquished. Let us apply this statement to Christ. 
Romans and Jews and all the public authorities, 
with the influence of public and private opinion, 
stood ready to oppose the claims of our Lord. He 
was without worldly power or influence. The de- 
sign of his life required the greatest publicity. It 
was to convince the world that he was sent by the 
Father to redeem the world. He did nothing in a 
corner. As we have shown, his birth made such an 
impression that it drew the wisdom of the world 
through the wise men of the East to the place of his 
nativity, and caused the destruction of many infants 
under the decree of Herod. If either had not oc- 
curred as stated, the fact was capable of proof by the 
enemies of Christ, and would have been sufficient 
to silence his cause forever. 

John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus, pre- 
pared his way in the most public manner. "Jeru- 
salem, ano) ajl Judea, and all the region round 



The Resurrection of Christ. 241 

about Jordan" attended his preaching, and were 
baptized of him. In the midst of this universal re- 
pentance and reformation Jesus appeared publicly 
and was baptized by John, and the heavens were 
opened, and the Spirit in the form of a dove sat 
upon Jesus, and a voice was heard proclaiming, 
"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well 
pleased." How easy to disprove such public acts, 
if they had not taken place! 

The miracles of Christ were of the most public 
and notorious kind. They were performed for three 
years. Enemies and friends saw them and were the 
subjects of their relief. All the hatred of earth 
could make no better explanation than this : " He 
casts out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of the 
devils." The daughter of Jairus, the son of the 
w T idow of Nain, and Lazarus wei*e raised from death 
in the sight of believers and unbelievers. When 
infidels say Christ should have appeared to his en- 
emies after his resurrection to convince them of the 
fact, the answer is that if they would not believe on 
him seeing these three notable instances of raising 
the dead, neither would they believe if they had 
witnessed his own resurrection. Five thousand 
people were fed when the visible supply was only a 
few loaves and fishes. The blind saw, the deaf 
heard, and the dumb talked, whenever he willed it. 
In city and town and country place these great 
works occurred. Clay and spittle were the strongest 
16 



242 The Resurrection of Christ. 

medicinal preparations seen or used at any time. 
Usually the work was done by a word of command. 
With what alacrity his enemies would have shown 
by the thousands present at the miracles that none 
of these great works took place, if they had been a 
delusion or an imposition! 

Consider the day of Pentecost. By this time the 
main question of the resurrection of Christ had been 
agitated for nearly two months. The place was 
Jerusalem, where the Lord had been sentenced to 
death, and in whose suburbs he had been crucified, 
and from thence ascended on high, leading captivity 
captive. On the day of Pentecost a most notable 
miracle took place. The Christians then present, 
numbering one hundred and twenty, and the most 
of them plain and unlearned persons, were enabled 
by divine power to speak in every tongue then 
known. This they did in the hearing of the thousands 
who were present, representing many nationalities, 
so that every one heard their testimony for Jesus in 
his own speech. Then followed a sermon by Peter, 
setting forth the facts that Jesus had been crucified 
by them, that he had risen from the dead only a 
few weeks before the sermon was preached, and 
that he was their Redeemer. As many as three 
thousand people on that day heard, believed, and 
obeyed the gospel. Now, if all this had been writ- 
ten down in the Acts of the Apostles shortly after 
the time when these great events were alleged to 



TnE Resurrection of Christ. 243 

have occurred, and they were all a fiction, how easy 
by the testimony of thousands of people to demon- 
strate their falsehood ! But all that the authorities 
did was to command them to teach no more in the 
name of Jesus, and sometimes to imprison the bold- 
est Christians. 

As the crucifixion of Jesus drew nigh, and when 
it had actually occurred, the confederate powers 
who sought by his death to destroy every vestige of 
pretension that he was the Messiah are found in 
each step taken adding to the proof of his Messiah- 
ship until all possible doubts are removed. Their 
publicity established his claim. Their persecution 
showed his goodness and love. Their hatred gave 
power to his prayers. Their malice demonstrated 
his meekness. Hell and earth became blind to 
their interest, while heaven shone upon the world 
with immortal luster. 

Mark the trial of Christ. He stands without 
counsel or witnesses. No one pleads for him or 
cross-examines a single man giving testimony. The 
judges cry out the sentence in open court without 
consultation with each other. They are seeking hig 
life, but they desire the protection of the forms of 
law. The sentence is determined. Pontius Pilate 
hesitates, and then yields and signs the death-war- 
rant. Jesus is taken out to Calvary and crucified. 
A hooting mob and rabble of probably fifteen hun- 
dred people attend the scene. While he is dying 



244 The Resurrection of Christ. 

lie speaks seven times with heavenly kindness so 
that his murderers can hear him. He dies. It is 
on Friday. He is laid in the tomb of Joseph of 
Arimathea. Jews, Romans, sinners, enemies, stran- 
gers, and citizens have in their control all the 
power of earth as against Jesus. Friday, Saturday, 
Sunday morning are the time noted. He predicted 
that he would rise from the dead the third day. 

We now reach the issue made between Jews and 
Christians. What became of the body of Christ on 
the third day after he was crucified and buried? 

Our Lord had attracted the most public and 
marked attention in the presence of Jews, Romans, 
and Christians for a period of three years before his 
death, during which time he claimed to be the Mes- 
siah, and predicted not only his death, but also his 
resurrection on the third day after his death. All 
this is exceedingly important, as showing the ad- 
vantages it gave his enemies to prevent collusion 
and fraud as to his body on the third day, and to 
enable them to detect any manner of imposture 
that might exist. What is the history of the third 
day? 

Within two miles of Jerusalem — a city full of 
inhabitants and strangers at the time, numbering in 
all nearly a million of souls; where there was a 
police and military force of many hundreds, all in 
the hands of the enemies of the Lord ; not beyond 
the suburbs, where the population was necessarily 



The Resurrection of Christ. 245 

dense — early in the morning after daylight there 
was lying in a new tomb, wherein man had never 
before been laid, a dead man named Jesus Christ; 
which tomb was sealed with the seal of State, and 
to break which seal was punishable with death, and 
around which tomb was a guard of one hundred 
soldiers — if a Roman centurion's company, or sixty- 
four if a Jewish watch — to each one of whom death 
was the penalty if found asleep: when suddenly 
the body of this dead man was missing, and neither 
friends nor foes claim that it was ever seen after- 
ward as a dead body. What became of that pre- 
cious body ? 

Hear first the enemies of our Lord. They do not 
pretend that any of their soldiers arrested any one 
for taking the body, or attempted any arrest, or 
even a discovery. As against themselves they ad- 
mit their soldiers were asleep, the punishment for 
which offense was death to each one. The hour 
when they made the discovery of the missing body 
was the first hour, when it was necessary for the 
soldiers to remain awake during the three preceding 
days, and was the first hour of the third day, the 
day predicted by the Lord for his resurrection. An 
arrest or discovery of the thief would have saved 
the soldiers' lives, and would have proved the 
claims of Jesus to be false. They do not pretend 
that they had posted any sentinels. The soldiers 
went immediately to the city after the body was 



246 The Kesurrectton of Christ. 

missing and reported the strange history to the au- 
thorities. A hundred search-warrants to find the 
body could have been issued in an hour, and five 
hundred officers sent in search of it, and the whole 
country could have been aroused to help make the 
discovery. There w r ere no railroads or other rapid 
means of conveyance to carry it away. Not a move 
w T as made to find the body. The soldiers knew and 
reported the fact that the body was supernaturally 
removed, and this was the reason that no discovery 
w T as attempted. The friends of the Lord were af- 
frighted almost to death, and were as sheep without 
a shepherd. Suppose there w T ere no other proof, 
is there any evidence against any man or body of 
men, which could be believed for a moment, that 
they stole the body? The conviction is irresistible 
that the authorities knew the tale was false from their 
own conduct in failing to try to prove it w T as true. 

The thinnest fabrication ever made was the one 
invented on that third day morning to account for 
the missing body. It w r as that while the soldiers 
slept the disciples came by night and stole it aw T ay. 
The low T est magistrate's court in the United States 
would not allow a witness to testify to a supposed 
event that occurred while he acknowledged himself 
to be asleep. If they were asleep, for aught that 
they knew to the contrary, Jesus may have risen 
from the dead. Breaking the seal and removing 
the stone and the body would certainly awake some 



The Resurrection of Christ. 247 

of the soldiers. The body could have been found 
if it had been stolen, but the attempt was not made. 
No company of soldiers would all have slept at 
once when death w T as the penalty. 

Hear the friends of Jesus. There was never a 
word of suspicion uttered against the moral integ- 
rity of the disciples, who asserted that they saw him 
alive on the third day and afterward. To be alive 
and to rise from the dead, if he were the Messiah, 
would be in exact fulfillment of the Scriptures re- 
ceived by his enemies, and of his own recent pre- 
diction. The power of God to accomplish the end 
was undoubtedly sufficient. 

The importance to the Christian religion cannot 
be overestimated that our Lord should furnish proof 
that he was alive on the very day of his resurrec- 
tion. A day later, or a week later, and the whole 
infidel world would have said there was time for 
collusion. How much proof is there of his being 
seen alive on the first day? He appeared to Mary 
Magdalene and the other Mary soon after he was 
risen from the tomb (Matt, xxviii. 9). Then he 
appeared to the two disciples on their way to Em- 
maus (Mark xvL 12), On the same day he ap- 
peared to the eleven as they sat at meat (Mark xvi. 
14). He also appeared to Simon Peter, who had 
denied him (Luke xxiv. 34). Here were sixteen 
credible witnesses who knew Jesus well, to whom 
he appeared on the first day of his resurrection. 



248 The Resurrection of Christ. 

The attack made on their proof is that they were 
friends. This is all. Their moral character is un- 
impeached. After this day, for several weeks our. 
Lord often appeared alive, at one time to more than 
five hundred persons. Would not any sane man 
believe such testimony, as opposed to the weakness of 
the other side, in any case where he was not preju- 
diced? On the one side there is positive proof by 
more than five hundred witnesses to a plain fact that 
they knew and saw with their eyes; on the other 
side the proof is offered of a supposed event occur- 
ring while the witnesses acknowledged they were 
asleep, and which testimony was given to make large 
sums of money and to save their own lives. 

Two events show the abiding conviction of the 
civilized w r orld that Jesus rose from the dead. One 
is that the date used in all official and private 
transactions before that time had commenced and 
run from the creation of the world, but in honor of 
our Lord for nearly two thousand years all dates 
in all civilized countries are recorded from the birth 
of Christ. Every infidel who writes only a com- 
mon letter to a friend must recognize the Saviour 
so far as to date his epistle in the year of our Lord 
corresponding with the date of his birth. 

Again, the seventh day of the week had been the 
Jewish Sabbath in the past centuries before Christ, 
but since he ascended on high the first day of the 
w T eek is recognized by civilized nations as the day 



The Resurrection of Christ. 249 

of rest. Such honors have not been conferred upon 
any or all of the battles gained by all military he- 
roes. These changes were made without express 
command in the Bible to make them, and are there- 
fore stronger proof of the unchanging belief of the 
world that the claim is true that Christ has risen 
from the dead. 

The Lord is risen indeed : 

He lives to die no more; 
tie lives the sinner's cause to plead, 

Whose curse and shame he bore. 

Then wake your golden lyres, 
And strike each cheerful chord ; 

Join, all ye bright, celestial choirs, 
To sing our risen Lord. 



THE END. 



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